Of Heaven and Hell
by Leanan Sidhe
Summary: (From Hell) I go back to the days of Rip's last murders and save abberline's sorry little tush. Chaos ensues, party life at the Ten Bells, warding off freaky deaky freemasons, and trying like hell not to fall in love.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Inspector Abberline (dagnabit!) and no one in their right minds would want those Freaky Deaky Freemasons! I do own the main character Cassandra Harlington.  
  
One never thinks when one makes a wish that it will indeed come true. I certainly didn't, but I should have known not to be so careless with the ones I voiced aloud.  
  
The From Hell credits were rolling and one thought kept running though my head. "It shouldn't have ended this way, he should be alive." The same words repeated themselves in my mind but it didn't change the fact that he had drugged himself to an early demise.  
  
"Idiot." I muttered angrily, "You moron."  
  
Then softly and with the compassion I felt stir in my bones suddenly I whispered aloud, "I wish I could have been there to stop him......to help him in any way possible. Someone of good society standing and wealth so could help him go to Ireland to see Mary Kelly.......YEAH RIGHT, I'D TAKE HIM FOR MYSELF, POUNCE, AND RIP HIS CLOTHES OFF!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha ha!"  
  
Laughing I made my way up to bed thinking of the specifics of such a wish. I'd need a lot of money. Maybe I'd be a daughter of a Marquis , who had died and left all of his fortune, land, and possessions to me in the hope that I would make a good match soon after. Classy too, enough so as to keep those freaky deaky Freemasons off the scent of Abberlines hotness!!  
  
Well respected (R-E-S-PE-C-T) A miss Cassandra Harlington......what a hoot!  
  
Light seared through my closed lids. Oh, god, was it morning already?! I snuggled deeper into my......what the hell?! I sat up like a shot. Satin sheets?! Since when the frock did I have satin sheets?! I wasn't in my room.  
  
"There, there, miss, it's alrigh'. You had quite a day yesterday." My head whipped around to the soft girlish voice who had spoken. She was wearing a maid's uniform, with blue and white stripes, a perfectly clean apron and one of those old fashioned caps on her head, hiding her unruly light mousy brown hair.  
  
Was I kidnapped? For some kinky sex tape or something where they dress up and ewwwwwwwwwww!! If I saw Michel Jackson, I was gonna scream bloody murder up the yazooo!  
  
"Miss? Are you alrigh' miss?" Her honey brown eyes widened in alarm as mine closed in a faint.  
  
Oh my god, what was that stench?! I jerked awake, still tasting the horrible smell in my mouth, coughing and sputtering back to reality........a reality that wasn't mine.  
  
"Oh, miss, you gave us quite a scare. Here now, I'll help you sit up, there we go, easy does it....."  
  
I placed a hand to my head, trembling slightly from head to toes as the little maid led me to a red velvet sedan couch.  
  
"I just need to think about this a moment," I whispered as I pinched the bridge of my nose.  
  
"Of course miss, I'll go have the cook make some tea and leave you in peace."  
  
I heard a door click shut somewhere in front of me, and slowly, ever so slowly I opened my eyes again. Immediately I shut them again, slow even breaths, and eased them open once more.  
  
It was a sight. I was in a bed chamber, a very beautifully designed one at that. Painted in many different hues of blue. The drapes were a twilight blue, the walls a periwinkle, and the bed cover was a deep sea blue of the carribean waters, azure blue, dawn grey blue. Little hints of other colors sprinkled the room as well, the red velvet couch I was lying on and the deep brown of a matching oak vanity, wardrobe, and bookshelves. I blinked stupidly at the surroundings. I slowly stood and made my way to an oak mirror right across from the bed. I don't know what I expected, perhaps a different appearance, but no, it was me. If I were two years older and if I had never cut my dark red hair in my life. If I had grown up a child of the old century about to step into the new.  
  
"Oh god!" I covered my mouth in horror, and grabbing at the soft cotton of my night gown. Real. It was real. I twisted the fabric about my hand, burning my fingers. Oh it was real alright. I could feel pain.  
  
"Of all the wishes I've made in my life, this is the one you choose to grant?! Why couldn't I have just won the lottery?!" I shouted at the ceiling as if the face that had landed me here was there.  
  
A sharp knock at the oak door made me jump in alarm, placing a fluttering hand to my heart.  
  
"Y....yes?" My voice quivered on my lips. Way to go cowardly coward!  
  
"Miss, I've brought you some tea." Said the little mousy maid who came into the room, carrying a silver tray over to me as I stumbled back, flopping down on the bed unceremoniously. Placing the tray beside me she began to pour the tea, "Are ya feeling better now, Miss Cassandra?"  
  
"Somewhat," I said watching her pour the steady liquid into the cup. I gently placed my hand on hers, slowly lowering the pot.  
  
"What is it, miss?" She asked her eyes blinking as if almost terrified......of me. I smiled tenderly at her to calm her and she gave a shy smile in return.  
  
"You're going to think me very queer, "I said trying to talk in an ancient british accent and dialogue, "but........"  
  
"Yes, miss?" She persisted, staring at me seriously.  
  
"Well, um.......I......" I shook my head, ".....this is so ridiculous.........I can't seem to remember yesterday or the day before that for that matter. It just all seems a blur.......I just can't remember.....anything." I looked up at her pleading with her to understand, to gibe me a hint as it were of who the hell I was and what in the bleeding hell I was doing here.  
  
"Well, that's understandable miss, considerin' the last few days you've had. It would be enough ta make anyone want ta forget such things."  
  
That doesn't really help me, "I don't like going around with empty memories......."  
  
"It's Ellie, Miss."  
  
"Ellie. Please I need to know what happened."  
  
"Of course, Miss. For the past week we had been hearing the stories of The Ripper......oh dear.....you've gone white as a sheet, I knew I shouldn't have said anything......"  
  
"No, no, Ellie please continue, the memories are coming back. I'm beginning to remember now...." I assured her although I was quite shaken at the mentioned of the blood lusting murderer.  
  
"Very well, Miss, if you insist....you were so very afraid that the killer would come after you as well, that is until yesterday when your father, the Marquis of Harlington died and you attended his funeral. You were so quiet and withdrawn....the doctor was afraid you might faint so he gave you the smelling salts to dispose of as you wished. I didn't think we'd need them but then this morning........" She trailed off coming to the part where I entered the picture.  
  
I thought in silence for a blissful second in peace. Even all of the specifics of my wish were made reality, a dead rich father leaving me everything, a very classy woman named Cassandra Harlington, which meant I had a chance to save Frederick Abberline, one I would not let slip through my fingers.  
  
I startled Ellie by asking very suddenly, "When was the last Ripper murder?"  
  
She seemed taken aback by the question and fumbled for the answer, "I believe three or four days ago, Miss."  
  
"And how many has he killed now?"  
  
"Now Miss Cassandra, why do ya trouble ya self with such thoughts?"  
  
I cut her off harshly, "I must know Ellie! This is very important, now please tell me."  
  
She was really flustered and I felt badly for being so rude with her. "I'm sorry, Ellie," I apologized, "I just really need to know the answer."  
  
"I believe," she began hesitantly as if afraid I would snap at her, which made me feel guilty as charged, "he has killed six unfortunates, miss."  
  
Six. He doesn't kill anymore than that, this I knew, but three or four days since? Abberline could have chased his last Dragon by that time. I prayed to God he had not, one he was cute and two: I REALLY wanted to go home! They didn't even have sanitary bathrooms in this age!  
  
"Miss?" Ellie questioned.  
  
"Yes, Ellie, what is it?" I asked softly.  
  
"Don't ya want ta have some tea?"  
  
I glanced down at the beautiful painted white and blue china tea cups and smiled ruefully.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ellie, but there is no time. I must prepate to go into town now, and not a second later." I announced making for the door.  
  
"Well, ya can't go out in yer knickers, now can ya, Miss?!" She exclaimed.  
  
"Oh? Who says I can't?! I don't think the men would object, do you?" I asked giving her a smile, a mischievious gleam in my eyes..  
  
Ellie burst into peals of laughter, stumbling over to the wardrobe, myself close behind. "I know that look Miss Cassandra! Yer in a spiteful mood today, ain't ya?"  
  
"I certainly am, Ellie. I plan on raising a little HELL......"  
  
While I was planning on raising hell, London was going to it in a fast car, me behind the wheel. 


	2. Getting accustomed to being a bitch in t...

Disclaimer: Same old, same old. You know the drill say it with me. I OWN NOTHING, except for my genius and my characters and plots. There ya go enjoy!  
  
"So Miss Cassandra, what do you fancy wearing today? Black, black, or more black?" Ellie asked drawing out three almost identical black gowns. I say almost, one was more of a fashionable cut with a small waist line which would mean I would have a corset tied very tightly. If I was anything I was fashionable. Hell, beauty is pain, right?  
  
"Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice, now do I?" I said aloud. Ellie tried not to snigger.  
  
"It don't look it, Miss."  
  
"I think I shall wear that one." I said pointing an imperious finger at the gown I had noticed.  
  
"Good god, Miss! You'll faint again for sure if you wear that!"  
  
"Then be sure to bring the smelling salts when we go out."  
  
She sighed, shaking her head trying hard not laugh. She must have wondered what could possibly have happened to changed her mistress so in a single night.  
  
I grabbed a hold to the bedpost as she began to tighten and lace up the corset. I gave a sharp gasp of pain, hissing it in my mouth.  
  
"Funny, it seems like this is the first time I've worn one of these things." I wheezed trying to breathe. I wonder why, oh wait, because it WAS my first time. Bloody corsets! They were probably invented by men to torture women. Damn all men!  
  
After I was laced up she helped me get on the yards of fabric in the gown. Guiding me to the vanity, she pulled out the stool, gesturing me to sit.  
  
"How shall we do your hair today, Miss?"  
  
"Just an up do I think will do it, Ellie, really."  
  
She was a whiz. I just kept thinking she would have made a fortune in my time doing hair with such expert ease. She did my make up as was traditional for the times, a little coal around my eyes to accent them and a small amount of rouge on my lips just enough to keep them full of color. The last touch was a black hat with a delicately laced black veil that covered my features, but not obscuring them. They were like a pair of little black sexy shades for an older generation. I smiled at my reflection, my painted lips rising slightly at the corners. I rose gracefully in a rustle of silk, the layers of the gown rubbing pleasantly against my skin.  
  
Making for the door, I took a black cane with a sliver handle. Raising it to my eyes I spun it slowly taking in the carvings on the silver. A sun joined with a cresent moon. Power over both night and day, light and dark. What felt like a ripple of knowledge stirred in my head. Walking out into the Hall all I could do was stare dumbly at the beauty and size of such a house, making my way down the grand stairs lined in red velvet. The butler or I assumed it was the butler opened the main door for me.  
  
"Thank you." I murmured, stepping out into the light of day, the neighborhood a startling change in color from the slums of the city I was sure. A black carriage waited at the corner of the apartment. Ellie came to my side.  
  
"Will I be going with you, Miss?"  
  
"Not this time, Ellie. I have some business to take care of."  
  
"Very good, Miss."  
  
I began my way down the porch steps to the carriage, when Ellie's voice stopped me.  
  
"What time should we expect you back, Miss?"  
  
I turned to face her and gave an unsure smile, "I'm not sure when Ellie, just expect me anytime this afternoon, alright?"  
  
"Yes, Miss."  
  
I approached the carriage, as I did the driver let down the stairs. I winced as it made the clang of a knife being sharpened, closing my eyes for the moment, shuddering at the memories it brought. When I had opened them again, the driver had his hand extended to help me in. Giving him a small smile of gratitude I slid in on the right hand side. The inside was black walls with brown leather seats, thank god not red. I would have run out of the creepy thing screaming madly if it were.  
  
"Where to, Miss?" I heard the driver ask as he climbed aboard.  
  
"Police Headquarters." I said succinctly.  
  
"Mam?" He asked.  
  
"Just drive." I sighed annoyed, and rapping my cane sharply twice against the wall. With a slap of the reigns we were off.  
  
Man, I felt like bitch of the year. But I guess if you were a woman in these times you'd have to be to get what you wanted. The carriage swayed pleasantly almost as if a mother rocking her child to sleep in her warm embrace. I woke as the carriage came to an abrupt stop.  
  
"Here we are Miss, Police Headquarters." He said opening the door, I gave him my hand as he helped me step out. If he hadn't I would have tripped on the damned dress and broken my neck.  
  
Standing on the sidewalk of a somewhat run in neighborhood, I looked comically out of place. The whores across the street sneered at me, while the men gave out shrill and loud cat calls.  
  
"Thank you. Please wait here. I shan't be long." What the hell possessed me to use the word 'shan't'?! And walking poised and straight backed I made my way up the steps of the building.  
  
One of the constables opened the door for me. Entering I heard him whisper lustily to his companion, "Wouldn't ya like ta feel her satiny skin on yers, eh old boy?" I heard the other man snigger softly.  
  
Turning around and pinning him with a stare I made my way back to him.  
  
"What is your name?" I asked him in a soft flirty voice.  
  
"My.........my name Miss?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"It's Thomas, Miss."  
  
"Well Thomas you just might end up getting your wish."  
  
Thomas turned to look at his friend as if to say, "Can you believe this?!"  
  
"Why, really, Miss?!" He asked leaning down closer.  
  
"Really."  
  
Smack!  
  
The next second, his head had snapped to one side and his hand was pressed firmly to his growing red cheek. His friend burst out laughing, his hands clutching his sides.  
  
I raised a brow, "So.....Thomas.......how did my 'satiny skin' feel to you?" And giving them both a nod of the head I said, "Gentlemen." His friend was still laughing hysterically, tears of mirth running down his face, as he opened the door for me and once again I swept past them into the building.  
  
Noise assaulted me from all angles as I entered a room full of loud, rambunctious constables. Standing in the doorway, I was seen by all. The silence which followed was unnerving.  
  
Another eyebrow raise, I gave a haughty humph of disdain and walked up to one man who seemed to be the secretary or deskboy. Standing over him, I could see the terror in his eyes, and it felt good to have that kind of power over men.  
  
"I'm here to see Sergent Codley."  
  
"And what business would ya be wantin' with the Sergent?" he asked rather bravely.  
  
"That is none of your concern. My business is my own. Now, go and tell your Sergent that I need to speak with him immediately."  
  
The boy gulped.  
  
"Now." I said coldly. The boy sprang from his sear, disappearing into another room behind his desk. I stood with the entire silence of the room at my back, like a dagger between my shoulder blades. Within the next few seconds, the little man scurried out closing the door behind him.  
  
Approaching me, wringing his hands, he said his voice shaking, "Um, I'm sorry Mam, but he's terribly busy at the moment."  
  
I sighed and rolled my eyes, pushing myself past him to the door. Taking another brave front he stepped in front of me, blocking my path.  
  
"I'm sorry Miss, but you can't go in there!"  
  
I narrowed my eyes to slits, "Watch me." And pushing him aside with my cane I burst through the door.  
  
If he was busy at that moment I would have loved to see what an off day was like for the Sergent. He was leaning back in his chair, his feet were set up on the desk and he nearly fell over when I entered with the little man following behind.  
  
"Yes, I can see he is VERY busy." I exclaimed with lilting sarcasm.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, I tried to stop her but......."  
  
"It's fine Devons, you can leave, I'll handle this." Codley said rising to his feet. The little man nodded and exited backwards closing the door again.  
  
"Now how can I help you Miss......." he struggled to find a name.  
  
"Miss Harlington." I said smiling. I always like Codley in the movie. I hoped he wouldn't disappoint me now.  
  
"Harlington? Oh yes,.......I was sorry to hear the tragic news of your father's passing." He gestured for me to take a seat in front of his desk.  
  
"I prefer to stand." I merely said.  
  
"So what can I do ya for Miss Harlington. I do hope nothin' bad concernin' you or yours?"  
  
"No," I said turning away and beginning to take in my surroundings. One the other side of the room was another desk and behind it a board with the Ripper Case evidence on it. I slowly made my way over to it, "Nothing unforeseen has happened to me. I'm here to ask you some questions about a certain Inspector......." Saying this I picked up the nameplate on the desk and turning showed it to Codley, ".....who goes by the name of Abberline."  
  
I saw Codley become still and tense for a moment, skillfully hiding the next. I was probably the only one who would have noticed such a thing, because I was the only one looking for it.  
  
"Something wrong, Sergent?" I asked innocently.......enough that is without being innocent.  
  
"No. Not at all." He said in a flustered way and then trying to act nonchalant he made to sit down in the chair, "What would ya be wantin' to know about Abberline? If he's caught the Ripper yet?"  
  
"No, my dear Sergent, I think we both know the origional Ripper's days killing whores are over, all though many will try to copy his methods in the future. No, my dear Sergent," I repeated, "What I'd be wantin' ta know about Abberline is where he chases the Dragon."  
  
He had been about to sit down in the chair and instead fell on the floor. Jumping up he tried to brush it off as normal and walked over to me, towering over me, blocking out the light.  
  
"Who's been tellin' stories about Abberline? Withers?"  
  
"Is he the man out guarding the front door?" I asked him.  
  
"Yes, that's him. Bloody idiot!"  
  
"But he didn't tell me anything. Just remind him to keep his comments in his throat so that the ladies don't smack him around."  
  
"What? Fine, I'll speak to him about it. But who told ya Abberline chases the Dragon. Why it's godwhollop......"  
  
"You know that that is completely false, having you yourself wakened him from the drugged sleep."  
  
His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he took several steps back, "Aye, I know but how do you?"  
  
"Just call it my womanly intuition, Sergent, and we'll leave it at that."  
  
"No, Miss Harlington," he said walking back to his desk, opening a drawer, "I don't think we will." With that he pulled out a gun. My eyes widened slightly as I froze staring at the black demon like object in his hand. Damn! I should have seen this coming. Well that is the basic rule, try to remember it girl: You're a woman. You're not supposed to know any of this!  
  
"Are you intending to kill me, Sergent?" I questioned, making no sudden movements.  
  
"If it comes to that, Miss Harlington. Now tell me, how do ya know all of this and who told ya?"  
  
I was becoming angry and I didn't have much time left as far as I knew to argue.  
  
"First of all Codley put that thing away right now, there is no need of it. I wish no harm to come to you, Inspector Abberline, or Mary Kelly."  
  
He cocked the gun.  
  
Crapcrapcrapcrapholyfreakingcrap!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
"Who are ya?"  
  
"A friend."  
  
"And what the fuck do ya want with Abberline?"  
  
That was easy to answer, "To help."  
  
"And what if I don't believe the bullshit ya've told me so far?"  
  
"Then I suppose you could kill me, but I think there have been enough murders so far, don't you. You could kill me, but then Frederick Abberline would never see Mary Kelly again, for the fact he will be dead and you'll be the one to pay his way for the Ferryman."  
  
"How do ya know about all of this?" He finally asked.  
  
Whooooo, now how would I explain that?! I could go with the whole I'm-from-an-alternate-universe-and-time-and-I-know-everything-that's- happened, or I'm GOD. Oh shit, what excuse could I use that he would really believe........? Visions: He would believe in another Abberline.  
  
"You should know more than anyone that there are certain people who SEE more than others do."  
  
His grip lessened on the handle of the revolver.  
  
"People like Abberline," I said softly, "People like me. That, Segent, is how I know all of this. Because Abberline isn't the only one of his kind."  
  
He lowered the gun, a light of dawning in his eyes of a realization.  
  
"Do you understand what I'm telling you?"  
  
Placing the gun on the table he spoke, "I believe so, Miss Harlington. But I do have one question."  
  
I raised a delicate brow, "Only one, Sergent?"  
  
"At the moment. If you are as you say you are, you do see as Frederick does then why did you not help us before in the Ripper case. You could have saved us a lot of fucking trouble."  
  
"You already had someone with the Sight, you didn't need me. You had Abberline." I improvised.  
  
"But why now?"  
  
"You won't have him for very long now." I said, "He's going to die and it'll happen if we don't stop him."  
  
"Stop him? The bloody bastards goin' ta take his own life?!"  
  
"No, not intentionally, at least I don't think so......." I stuttered.  
  
"How?"  
  
"How do you think?" I asked angrily, "He has been taking the Opium seed into his system for years! Do you have any idea what that drug does to your internal track?!"  
  
"No, but I can sure as hell guess that ya're goin ta tell me." He answered.  
  
"He is going to die today or the next if he chases the Dragon one more time!" My voice grew louder and I began to pace.  
  
"Alrigh' alrigh! Not so loud lass! He hasn't come in yet today but he should be here very soon."  
  
"I'm afraid to wait. My visions," I lied, "don't always come in order. I don't know the exact time he kills himself, just that it's soon."  
  
"Ya'll have ta calm yaself Miss or ya'll end up in a faint."  
  
"Too late I'm afraid Codley, it's happened once already today but no worries I have the smelling salts handy."  
  
"Listen, he'll be here and I'll find out for ya where he'll be and when. I'll come with ya of course, while I do believe ya I'm not so sure I trust ya just yet, if ya don't mind me sayin'."  
  
"Not at all. But how can you be sure he isn't at the den at this moment?" I asked, somewhat disturbed, the thought just now occurring to me.  
  
He actually laughed. "Not Abberline! Maybe others, but not Abberline. He'd come ta work and THEN kill himself!"  
  
I gave a small smile and chuckled, "You're right. That sounds like the Inspector."  
  
"What of me?" A new voice joined us. 


	3. What do ya know, turns out Abberline is ...

Disclaimer: Do I really have to say this again. Oh pooh, I own nothing. Except for the dreams of being Cassandra who is me really but man I'm confusing myself just read.  
  
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~  
  
I turned around to the doorway so fast I nearly sent myself toppling over. I'm afraid my mouth dropped slightly and a gasp escaped my lips as I watched Abberline walk from the door over to us.  
  
"Ah! Frederick, 'bout time you showed up. We have a hell of a day ahead us.....oh shit.....I mean, I'm sorry mam, I forgot myself. Ummm, this is Inspector Abberline."  
  
Abberline approached me, his dark honey brown eyes scrutinizing me with every detective reasoning in his being. Standing face to face, he bent at the waist giving me a small curteous bow. "It is a pleasure, Miss......?"  
  
"Harlington." I answered, giving a small nod of recognition of his stature, "And the pleasure is all mine, Inspector Abberline."  
  
"Is it now?" He asked, his voice slightly husky, from the smoke I though sadly. I noticed the drugged way his eye brows rose in a sarcastic expression of my statement. "Miss Harlington, was it?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"Yes," I said cocking my head, my annoyance growing as I stared at him. He was beautiful, no doubt about it, but his manner was off putting and it was making me feel near discomfort of him, "it was."  
  
"Well, Miss Harlington," He asked, sneering at my name, "what is a fine upstanding lady such as yourself doing in the slums of the city."  
  
My blood ran with ice as I glared at him. I was starting to realize I was going to help someone I really didn't like.  
  
"I believe that, Inspector," I sneered back at him, "is none of your damned business." Abberline's eyes widened a fraction at my daring and I hear d the Sergent gasp behind me. "I'm sorry, Sergent. I forgot I'm a fine upstanding lady, aren't I?" I responded.  
  
Abberline's eyelids drooped slowly, "Forgive me, I spoke without thinking."  
  
"That you did, Inspector." I replied coldly. Turning back to Godley I calmly said, "I think it best I leave now, Sergent. Please contact me when and if you get the information I need. Thank you once again for all of your help. I won't forget it."  
  
"Think nothing of it, Miss Harlington." He answered coming forward and taking my hand in his own, "And don't leave just yet please, just wait outside one moment. I need to have a little chat with Abberline first."  
  
I nodded, "Of course." I smiled softly and turned my features becoming neutral as I began to walk to the door.  
  
"Good day, Miss Harlington." Abberlines voice cut out in such a way as to suggest it would never be a good day with me around.  
  
I stopped dead still staring straight ahead, tense. Slowly I turned my head so that our eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. "And the same to you, Inspector." I coolly replied seeing the dislike in his eyes for me. I pulled my gaze away and continued walking, retreating from the war of thoughts between us but not surrendering. With all the poise in my being I exited stage left.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I sat in front of the fearful man's desk, waiting just as Godley asked of me while he roared at Abberline from behind the closed door.  
  
"What the bleeding hell is wrong with you?!.......Fuck that, my friend, do you have any idea.....bugger your suspicions man, she's a damned client....We'll finish this later Frederick, I have a few more things to say to you..." I covered my mouth to stifle my laughter, mind you it really wasn't funny but in some odd way it was.  
  
The door knob turned and the Sergent emerged, looking quite red in the face. I couldn't' help it, the sight was quite comical and a string of giggles escaped me turning into a full fledged laugh.  
  
He looked at me as though I were the oddest thing he had ever seen.  
  
"I'm.....so sorry Sergent," I paused trying to collect myself, " I (burst of laughter) I know it's nothing to laugh about but (squeal of laughter) I've never really had someone stand up from me. It's quite a novelty actually." I wiped away the tears that came with the laughter, "Whoo, I'm alright now."  
  
Still looking at me like I had escaped from the mad house he coughed and said, "Yes, uh.....good to hear it. Well Miss Harlington, here is the information you desired...." and saying this he took my hand and in the center of it he layed a small piece of paper.  
  
I looked up questioningly and opened the slip of parchment. My eyes scanned over what was written:  
  
The Jade Dragon  
  
8' o clock  
  
When I looked up again he nodded, "So there it is, Miss Harlington, I'll meet you there."  
  
I shook my head, "No, not at this time. Abberline is no fool, Godley. He doesn't trust me, not in the slightest, as any idiot could hear from your conversation. And if he thinks you're helping me as you surely are, he will not trust you either. We will be there two hours early."  
  
"Two hours! Why that long?!"  
  
"I'm afraid any later and it might be TOO late. You know he doesn't like people to interrupt him....."  
  
"You know it's downright scary to have you know all that I do, all that Abberline does?"  
  
"I know, but I've heard weirder things, trust me. Can't think of any now, but I'm sure there are some."  
  
"Abberline might not trust you but I'm beginning to. Very well then, I'll escort you there, at six."  
  
"I thought you trusted me?"  
  
"I do. It's the people out in that part of the city I don't trust."  
  
"I see..." I said sighing as he walked me out of the building.  
  
"You do?" He asked, smiling as he called my carriage forward with a wave of his hand. Turning to him I caught the double meaning in his words as the carriage pulled around. The driver hopped down opening the door for me.  
  
"Yes, I do!" I replied laughing as I pulled myself into the carriage.  
  
"Six then?" He asked me.  
  
"Yes. Oh!" I almost slapped my hand to my forehead remembering so suddenly, "I don't supposed you know where my house is, do you?"  
  
"No, Miss Harlington, I don't, but I don't expect it will be very hard to find, now will it?" He asked.  
  
"Not at all. Just look for the largest one on the fanciest block, I'm sure it around there......somewhere." I waved a hand dissmisively as if it didn't make any difference.  
  
"You're not sure where you live?" He exclaimed incredulous.  
  
"My dear Godley, I am not sure of a great number of things." I sighed, rapping my cane against the side and the carriage sped off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
With a frustrated sigh, I slammed the book shut. It was the third time I had done that this evening. Discarding it on the table next to the chair I was sitting in, I got to my feet and began to pace.  
  
Why was I so restless?! Could it be because the most insanely sensual and sexy detective ever was so near to me at one point today I could have jumped him? Or was it the thought of knowing that he was going to be that near to me again that I was going mad? Either way, I was still pacing. I felt like pulling at my hair in agitation but I quelled the urge, balling my hands to fists.  
  
I jumped in tense release as the beautifully crafted clock in the corner chimed out the hour. Five. Time to prepare. I called for Ellie. It didn't change even over the distance of time, it takes at least an hour for me to get ready.  
  
Ellie dressed me in a deep inky black gown as before. I was still in mourning. She twisted and turned my hair, putting it up in a complicated do. Making for the door I grabbed the cane and asked for the butler to get me a thick cloth and a vial of Chloroform.  
  
"Miss? Might I ask why?" He did indeed ask, hand me the bottle.  
  
"Segent Godley asked for some. Something to do with cleaning the headquarters..."  
  
"Oh yes...of course.....cleaning the headquarters...." He walked away shaking his head.  
  
"Where are you going, Miss, and will you be back soon?" Ellie asked, draping a cape over my shoulders. I had been perfecting this story all afternoon.  
  
"I left my smelling salts at the Police Headquarters, and the Sergent offered his services as an escort, since it is so very unsafe out at this time of night."  
  
"That was kind of him." She said following me out.  
  
Godley was waiting our by the carriage, hands in the pockets of his brown tweed jacket, whistling into the cold night air.  
  
"And we shall be back in two hours if not sooner."  
  
I walked down the stairs trying desperately not to trip over my own feet.  
  
"Miss Harlington." He said tipping his hat.  
  
"Godley." I replied succinctly stepping in with his guiding hand at my elbow. He climbed in as well, and as the door slammed shut the carriage took off.  
  
"Ready to chase the Dragon, Miss Harlington?" Godley asked good naturedly.  
  
"I'm after a different quarry tonight, my dear Sergent." I replied giving a tricky smile. "Here." I said handing him the cloth and the bottle of chloroform.  
  
"What's all this for?" He questioned looking at the label on the glass vial.  
  
I shook my head, "He won't come quietly." Was my only explanation. "Now here is the plan. We are going to split up," he looked about to object but I raised a hand to still him, "because he may be at any number of Opium Dens to throw us off, and I need you to check them just to be sure he isn't at any of them. If you see him, use those." I said pointing at the bottle and cloth in his hand. "If not, come back to the Jade Dragon."  
  
"And what if he is there?" He asked, "How do you plan to keep him there without these?" He said raising the items.  
  
"I have this." I replied, indicating the cane.  
  
"That'll do the trick alright! What are you planning to do with it, hit him?!" He asked shocked.  
  
"No, I plan on making him do the Limbo," I snapped sassily, "of course I'm going to hit him with it!"  
  
"What in the seven hells is 'Limbo'?"  
  
Uh oh, wrong century.  
  
"Uh...." I stuttered, "It's a game that involves a stick....uh....I...uh....learned it abroad!"  
  
He shook his head, clearly thinking me beyond the aid of anyone sane. 


	4. The Dragon, My Hero, and Paranoia makes ...

Disclaimer: kasjdlfjoieladjfoiwefkjdoifie that's all I have to say about that. No one touches Cassandra but Abberline. God!  
  
~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~  
  
The carriage jerked to a stop in front of a dimly lit, run down apartment in a very shady neighborhood. I exited it, stepping down lightly minding the train of my dress.  
  
"Go in, turn left, go down." Was all Godley said, before the carriage left me on the edge of the street....alone. Lifting my skirts I walked to the door and knocked three times as Godley had told me to on the ride over. Immediately a slot opened and a pair of oriental eyes looked down into my face.  
  
"I'm here to chase the Dragon." I murmured low.  
  
The slot slammed shut in response, and the door opened a crack, a small beam of light fell through, illuminating the darkness. I threw a glance over my shoulder and slipped in.  
  
The man paid me no heed and merely sat down in a corner, waiting for the next customers to come. His silence must have been well paid for. I shrugged my shoulders and turned left to find myself in a deep stairwell. Sighing, I began my decent down them.  
  
Reaching the bottom, a pair of sandy brown wood doors blocked my path, leading me to suspect that the Dragon's Lair was behind them. I turned and waited......for an hour. I had amused myself greatly by having a loud conversation with a fine audience (myself) and singing all the songs I could possibly think of. I was right in the second verse of "When ya got it, Flaunt it" from the Producers when I heard someone approach, decending the stairs at a rapid pace.  
  
I suppose to him it was a shock, to see me calmly standing there, waiting for him for he slowed his pace, coming to stop right in front of me.  
  
"Miss Harlington?" He asked not quite believing his eyes.  
  
"The one and the same, Inspector." I replied as if it were fairly common to meet at an illegal Opium Den.  
  
"I must say this is, uh," he coughed to hide his snarl, "quite a surprise," he failed hiding his sneer though, "and not of the pleasant variety."  
  
I merely stared at him. How could I have been so wrong about him? I had thought him kind and gentle, someone I'd be more than happy to save and die for. And here I am and I find out he's an insolent little prick!  
  
"Why are you here?" I snapped out of my thoughts as he took a step toward me.  
  
"Waiting." I replied.  
  
"For who?" Another step closer he came.  
  
"You." I stated simply.  
  
"Why?" He stepped back.  
  
"To warn you." I murmured softly in a controlled voice, trying not to be angry with him for not being as I thought, "Do not chase the Dragon again, Abberline."  
  
"Is that a command?" He asked haughtily, cocking a brow.  
  
"If need be, yes."  
  
We stared in silence forever it seemed, and then he gave a bark of harsh laughter.  
  
"Is this a joke?!"  
  
"Far from it, Inspector." My tone sobered him.  
  
"You're here to stop me...aren't you?"  
  
I didn't answer him because he already knew it.  
  
"And you really think you can, don't you?" He began to approach me again. I hated his conceit, and the arrogant smirk on his face, and how badly I wanted him to not see me as a threat and instead as a friend.  
  
"You are, aren't you?" I jumped, realizing he was towering over me. A look passing through his eyes. "You're going to try to stop me from doing my work." Admiration, maybe even awe flashed in the dark iris's of his eyes.  
  
I gulped and nodded.  
  
"Try then...," He pushed me aside, "It won't do you any good, Miss Harlington." He hissed on my name again.  
  
I did the only thing I could then. I acted like the sixteen year old brat, I was. I pulled him back by his coat tails, slamming him into the opposite wall. He closed his eyes in shock as he hit the wall. When he opened them, I was once again blocking the doors.  
  
He chuckled darkly, "I shouldn't be surprised really, your kind is always lurking in the places of least respectability!" I had no idea what he was talking about. I started to worry I had caused him some brain damage in hitting his head on the stone of the wall. He pushed himself off it, staggering over to me, clutching the back of his head.  
  
"Prancing about," he continued, "pretending to be soft, sweet, and innocent while you dill the true innocents in their sleep." He started to sound inhuman, growling so low in his throat. "Thinking you're better than us all, when you're nothing. When you're little more than WHORES to POWER!" He spat, his lip curling in disgust.  
  
EXCUSE ME?  
  
I wanted to rip out his eyes, to slap him, to scream at him. No one.....calls me a whore!  
  
Instead of these things I smiled maliciously and said the one thing that could truly hurt him, "I'll take that as a compliment, Inspector, considering you fell in love with one." My own voice seemed unfamiliar to me. Hard and vengeful, "A whore that is." I continued watching the rage fill his eyes, "Did you ever wonder if she really loved you. How could you be sure that she wasn't in love with you pocket book or your protection, what little of it you could give?"  
  
"Because she didn't take....!" He began defensively.  
  
"What? Because she didn't take the money you tried to give her?!" I laughed as if he were a small little boy who knew nothing, "In the end she left with an envelope filled to the brim with cash and a one way ticket to Ireland. I'm sure she LOVED you for that fact alone." I knew I was talking bullshit to him, that she loved him with all her heart, but I sure as hell wasn't going to give him an easy time for calling me a freaking prostitute!  
  
I think he made to attack me but he never got close enough. He and I both found my cane in front of me like a sword, digging into his stomach.  
  
"Oh dear." I exclaimed in mock horror, raising a hand to the perfect O of my mouth, "I meant to aim lower than that."  
  
With a cry of rage, he pushed the cane out of his way and pinned me up against the doors behind me, holding each of my wrists tightly against the wood.  
  
"Did your bloody clan send you here to torment me?!"  
  
"What the HELL are you talking about?!"  
  
"Don't play that game with me, Freemason!" He threatened, "Where are your bigger brothers?! Have they gone after her or is she already dead?! Tell me!" He commanded slamming me up against the hard wood again. I hope the Dragon wouldn't wake. The smoke in his den clouding his mind.  
  
Whether it was the concussion I had just gotten or simply the fact that I was really pissed off, I looked up into his eyes, sighed gustily, pinned him with a glare of pure contempt and slipped into my American teen accent.  
  
"Dude, you are seriously paranoid."  
  
Confusion replaced his anger somewhat as I am sure he was trying to work out exactly what a "Dude" was when I kicked him hard in the shin. He let go for the barest of seconds but it was more than enough for me to slam the cane down on his back. A stifled cry came of the action and Abberline literally went down like a ton of bricks, much to my satisfaction, that was until I realized he wasn't moving.  
  
Oh god........  
  
Did I kill him?  
  
My gasp of horror was sincere this time.  
  
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I exclaimed rushing to kneel by his side.  
  
Shit......  
  
I killed the one person I was sent to save.  
  
I wondered vaguely if I could get a refund on my wish. I checked his pulse, feeling a relieved sigh pour from my lips as I found it.....beating sure and strong. He must be unconscious then, my sane mind reasoned. My insane mind cooed, AWWWW look how cute he looks when he's sleeping!  
  
Sane Mind: Behave!  
  
Insane Mind: You behave.....I'll be naughty!  
  
Me: Both of you SHUT UP and give me some freaking peace!  
  
Wonderful.  
  
He was a paranoid asshole and I was a sciztophrenic freak. We were sure a perfect pair. I was musing rather beautifully on this thought when I was flipped over onto my back and found Abberline on top of me. This would have been my greatest fantasy come true if it weren't for the fact that he had taken my cane from the floor where I dropped it and had it across my neck, crushing my windpipe. Very uncomfortable. I struggled and thrashed wildly beneath him trying to dislodge him from his position.  
  
"If you have killed her," He grunted, keeping the hard wood to my throat, "I'll make sure you're the first to die in her place!"  
  
I tried to laugh but I choked on it, unable to breathe, "I .....(gasp) guess you weren't (rattling cough) really asleep then."  
  
"No, not asleep!" He ground out, grinding the sharp wood further into my throat.  
  
"At least (shuddering gasp) you're not dead!"  
  
"Yes, at least I'm not that!"  
  
My eyes began to blacken briefly, when it cleared my eyes flicked to the space beyond his head, victory flooding my face, "But you might want to rethink that sleeping thing."  
  
A drugged cloth gagged him, strong hands behind pulled him off of me. I took large gulps of air as I stroked my throat, with a trembling hand. Working to my feet, my cane which had been my enemy only moments before, steadied me as I rose. Facing Abberline, I saw the fire in his eyes dull as his eyelids drooped, the hand of unconscious already upon him.  
  
"Nighty-night, Inspector," I murmured, "sweet dreams."  
  
His eyes closed then, still hating me. I looked up at the person who had saved me.  
  
"Perfect timing, Sergent." 


	5. Abberline is being possessed by Wolverin...

Disclaimer: Again? You know my answer right? So I don't need to continue with this anymore do I? Ok good, no worries then.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Yes, poor dear, we found him in a passing alleyway. Unconcious. He had been mugged, poor thing....." I repeated sorrowfully to Ellie and the other servants as they laid Abberline on the guest room bed, a room painted of an assortment of stylish browns as mine was blues. "It's a miracle that Sergent Godley ever recognized him at all in the dark, if not we would have passed by the Inspector, never knowing he needed our desperate help."  
  
They nodded sympathetically, sending piteous glances toward the unconscious man on the bed.  
  
I gave a tired sigh, this time not pretending. I really felt like falling to my knees in exhaustion, "It has been a very long day.....for all of us. But if you can bear with me just for another hour or so, I would greatly appreciate it. Now......"I said turning to Godley, "The Sergent shall be staying the night to make sure the Inspector is quite well enough to return to work as soon as he is able. Please show him to his room for tonight and make sure that he is comfortable." Another little maid nodded and led Godley down the hall.  
  
"Mr. Cox," I addressed the butler, "Please alert the kitchens to prepare a soup please, I will leave the creation itself to the chef." Obeying Mr. Cox left the room, leaving me alone with Ellie.  
  
"Ellie, I am entrusting Mr. Abberline's care to you. I want you to watch over him, call for help if something seems amiss. I shall be back in a while with his dinner if he is awake by then."  
  
"Yes miss. Thank you." She curtsied honored with the request.  
  
"No, Ellie, thank you." I told her. But first to bathe, I thought with reverence.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
I decided then that being clean, was the most delicious thing in the world. It's funny what we take for granted. I stepped out of the tub, muscles relaxed and warmed by the water. I toweled myself in a large pink towel. Glad that before I left my own time I had shaved my legs, but what about later, my mind wondered. Oh hell, I'd just knick Abberline's, he'd never know.  
  
You see I already had a plan to keep him here.  
  
Wrapping myself in a satin blue and white robe, my hair already dampening the back and sticking to my neck, I made for the kitchens. I met Mr. Cox half way there carrying a tray with a steamy soup on it.  
  
"I'll take that Mr. Cox." I started reaching for it.  
  
"But mam...." He sputtered astonished. I had a feeling nobles weren't really friends with their staff.  
  
"No, no I insist." I told him, determined, taking the tray our of his grasp, "Now Mr. Cox, I believe you have to awake early tomorrow morning. Why not get some sleep?" He began to sputter full of questions but I hushed him, "Mr. Cox, once again I must insist."  
  
He nodded and turned away to the servants quarters wing. At that moment life seemed good, almost pleasant. Myself, whistling cheerfully down the hall as I carried Abberlines tray. Everything seemed good until Ellie's scream punctuated the air. I was close to the door anyway. Putting the tray down hastily, I barged in through the door.  
  
It would seem Abberline was awake....  
  
And whhhhhhoooooo mama was he pissed off!  
  
At present he had Ellie's neck locked in the tight clutch of his arm.  
  
"Abberline!" I shouted, outraged. If I had known he was going to pull a Wolverine I would never have let Ellie watch over him. "Let go of her!"  
  
He looked absolutely insane. Beyond reasoning. He snarled like some mindless beast. Ellie whimpered in his grasp. I approached them slowly. Like a cornered tiger he was dangerous like this.  
  
"Abberline....." I said soothingly, "Let her go.....she's one of your innocents. It's me and me that you want....." Yeah I wish. His grip lessoned somewhat, "Let her go."  
  
Ellie's eyes were wide with fear. He had relaxed his grip but he would not let her go. Ok, on to Plan B: Pretend the Freemasons were right behind him. Got that? Ok, BREAK!  
  
"Ah!" I exclaimed, "My brothers, it is about time you came!"  
  
Quick as a shot, he spun around behind him, dropping Ellie to the floor. She stumbled to her feet and rushed toward me, just as slow Abberline realized no one was there and whisked around. I pushed Ellie to the door.  
  
"Go Ellie! Inform the others the scream they heard was just me as I feared there was a spider on my dress." Ladies were supposed to be afraid of those things right? "Go!" She needed no persuasion as she did as I bade her, slamming the door behind her.  
  
"Where the fuck am I?"  
  
The question brought my attention back to Abberline who was looking around in confusion.  
  
"I think the question you should be asking yourself is why." I said coldly.  
  
"Why then?" He snapped impatiently.  
  
"Why? I shall tell you as soon as you tell me why you felt the need to strangle my friend?!" I crossed my arms over my chest looking down on him.  
  
"Why should I tell you?" He sneered back.  
  
"Why shouldn't I lock you in here to starve?" I shot back.  
  
"Why don't you?"  
  
"Why don't you answer my first question, damnit?!" I spat at him, "What gives you the right to treat people like that?! Tell me, are you just so much better then us, is that it?! Does that make it right?!"  
  
We were two fighters in Rome, sparring with words sharper than any blades.  
  
"Right?! Since when have your kind ever cared about what is right?! When has it ever mattered to you?!"  
  
"My kind?!" I exclaimed, "What the bloody freaking HELL are you babbling about?!"  
  
"You and your fucking Freemason brothers! That's the revolting kind I'm talking about!" He lashed back.  
  
He was so close to getting his ass beat down again, I swear.  
  
"You, my dear Inspector, have severe phsycological problems. I suggest you see a doctor without delay."  
  
I think I had pushed him too far again as for the second time that night I found myself pinned to a wall.  
  
"Again with the slamming! Try something new!" I groaned against his weight, "Like not going insane, maybe!"  
  
He ignored me, "What doctor would you have me go to?! Butchers, all of them! They'll rot in hell for what they've done and so will you!"  
  
I rolled my eyes heavenward, "Oh give OVER, you stupid IDIOT! I am NOT one of your FREAKY DEAKY FREEMASONS! Get that into your little oxygen deprived BRAIN! Now get OFF of ME!!!!!"  
  
"Tell me the truth then! Who the hell ARE you?!"  
  
He was wearing me out. I sighed deeply looking at him, "What is it that you want."  
  
He had calmed his voice, "I want the truth."  
  
I was sorely tempted to scream, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" but I didn't.  
  
"You're not ready to hear it," I told him frankly, "at least not yet. Now please, for the love of god Abberline, get off me so I can bring you your dinner." I had been increasingly aware of the fact that I was wearing nothing more than a very thin robe, which clung to my frame, sticking to my skin because of the moisture. That and the fact that he was pressed somewhat suggestively into me in our current position. He seemed to notice this too for he quickly averted his eyes although I showed nothing, dropped my hands as if they were burning hot wires and backed away.  
  
Suddenly devoid of his body warmth, I pulled the robe tighter about me to make up for it's absence.  
  
"Now, just sit over there...." I said pointing a finger to a chair in front of the hearth, "...and don't spaz out again." I muttered under my breath darkly as I went into the hallway to get the tray I had left there in my haste to save Ellie from a certain death. Picking it up, I made my way back into the room.  
  
Abberline had sat where I indicated, his head buried in his hands. Hearing me approach his head snapped up to glare at me, beneath the shade of his long lashes.  
  
"Hopefully it is still warm..." I murmured softly.  
  
"I don't look to be served by you!" He hissed.  
  
"Well, I'm not all too sure that I want to serve a spoiled brat, but that can't be helped." I retorted impatiently.  
  
"Look to yourself for such comments." He snapped.  
  
That did it.  
  
I slammed the tray down on the table beside him, rattling the dishes and spilling some of the soup onto it's surface. Abberline, startled, jumped a bit in his chair. He had brought out the worst in me: my sixteen year old ass bashing self.  
  
I leaned into his face, my eyes narrowed in deepest loathing, my right hand gripping the back of the chair as if I did so hard enough I would break it.  
  
"I am sick and tired of all your shit, Abberline." I said in a low, dangerous voice, "It would never occur to you that someone, someone who you treat like crap would want to help you, would it? Well, guess what, I think I've just about changed my mind about my generous offer." I pulled back, slowly. His eyes were riveted to mine, as if he were finally seeing me for the first time and not sure what to make of it all. Standing straight backed and ridged, looking down on him, I growled, "Just who the FUCK do you think you are, huh?" I shook my head, disgusted with him. I turned my back and walked to the door. When I reached it I turned my head slightly and called back to him, "You owe someone an apology."  
  
"You're sure as hell not getting one." Abberline replied back to a haughty tone.  
  
I laughed scathingly, "Whoever said I wanted one from you? I was talking about Ellie. Such an unkind way to thank her for watching over you. I expect you to do so and apologize for your behavior to her, but I don't expect you to apologize to me. Indeed, I think it too high above your compliance to do."  
  
And saying this, I walked out. Preferably in search of something to drink. 


	6. Surprise Surprise and I made him an offe...

Disclaimer: Not saying it one more time, I absolutely refuse! Besides don't you think if I owned any of this I would have Abberline at my disposal to slam me against an alleyway wall anytime I wanted? Yep, so there you go.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~  
  
'Damnit all!' I thought. Where are the kitchens in this place? I asked myself as my search for some liquor proved to be fruitless. I don't drink but I thought just this once I could abandon my morals and have one beer or some wine. I was wondering if they had invented Cosmopolitans yet when I bumped into Godley.  
  
"Oh thank yeh god!" He said grabbing my shoulders, "Someone found me!"  
  
I couldn't help laughing.  
  
"Got lost?" I asked smiling.  
  
"Is it tha' obvious to ya?" He asked, somewhat embaressed.  
  
"Yes, but then I know the tell tale signs of the condition."  
  
"But this is your house!" He exclaimed in delighted surprise.  
  
"It still doesn't change the fact that it is a bloody maze." I grumbled.  
  
Godley shot me an uneasy glance, "Do ya talk like tha' all the time?'  
  
I know, I know I was supposed to say 'I do not, just nerves, my good man,' but I forgot you can't be overly friendly in the early nineteenth century, (like I actually knew what century it was. All I knew was that I was stuck.)  
  
"Well I talked like this all the time where I used to live......." I clamped my mouth shut as soon as I heard the words leave my mouth. How many ways can you be anymore stupid!?  
  
"Haven't you lived here your entire life?" He asked  
  
"Um.......ah.....yes.....but I was ah.....abroad for a while......" Oh god! How would I get out of this one?  
  
"Oh yes, I remember now!" He said nodding his head. I couldn't see how he could remember when I couldn't but ok, "And you learned a quaint litt'l custom using a stick I believe, correct?" He asked as we began to walk together down the hall.  
  
"Yes...." I mumbled, blushing, remembering my not too bright cover up over the mention of the limbo stick.  
  
We finally maneuvered ourselves in the right direction to Abberlines rooms when we happened upon Ellie. I saw from the direction she had come from and frowned, "Ellie.....were you just taking with Abberline?"  
  
She blushed and lowered her head. Oh my god, he had slammed her up against a wall too?! "Yes miss."  
  
"My dear girl, what ever for?! Trying to see if he would attack you a second time?" I asked astonished.  
  
She giggled, "Well miss, he asked me to come, so's he could apologize for that."  
  
I can honestly tell you my mouth dropped wide open in shock and disbelief. Proud Mr. Abberline had apologized?!  
  
"Ellie!" I gasped, "Did he really?!"  
  
"Oh yes miss, in a most gentlemanly way he did too." She insisted.  
  
Hey, who knew?! Maybe I would help his sorry ass after all!  
  
"That's wonderful, Ellie!" I surged forward and gave her a quick hug. Pulling back, I saw she was rather startled.  
  
"Miss?" She ventured timidly, "Are....are you quite all right?"  
  
Damn the stupid social classes to hell and back!  
  
"No! But that's what's so wonderful!" I laughed.  
  
Godley was looking at me as if I had shot off my rocker and Ellie's expression was one not too far from that.  
  
"Oh you two!" I sighed exasperated with their lack of happiness and plain happy go lucky ness. Just think, Abberline's not such a jerk after all! Start the band up, 'for he's a jolly good fellow......' "Pay no mind to me.....except for this one last thing." Now I sobered up even though I had still yet to find something of liquid matter to make me otherwise, "Ellie please inform Abberline his presence is requested in the study," I turned to Godley, "as will yours. Please show them the way and after that go get some sleep, my dear. You more than deserve it."  
  
"Yes miss."  
  
"What do you plan to do with Abberline?" Godley questioned.  
  
I put on my best Godfather voice, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." I husked.  
  
It's official. Everyone now thinks I should be in an isylum. God!  
  
~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~  
  
Check: Next time remember to ask where the study is before sending everyone there so I know how to freaking find it.  
  
They were already in the room by the time I found the room itself, after getting dressed in black again. I mean I couldn't very well have stayed in that damp robe unless Abberline wanted to slam me again (sorry that sounded so wrong) I knew I should have asked Ellie to show me the way too.  
  
"Gentlemen." I said entering waving a hand to the many reading chairs in the library like room, "please.....take a seat."  
  
They did so, as did I behind the waiting desk.  
  
"Inspector......" I paused dramatically here because I felt the situation at hand called for it, "I have proposition for you."  
  
"Not interested." He cut in.  
  
Ok so apparently he's not a jerk that still thinks I'm rat guts. The perfect business relationship, I was pleased, besides I had an ace up my sleeves.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that Inspector. I would have thought you would be interested in being reunited with the lovely Mary Kelly, very interested in fact......."  
  
"What?" He whispered.  
  
I continued, heaving a sigh of mock disappointment, pretending not to hear his quiet outburst, "Oh well, I suppose it was a SILLY idea......"  
  
"What did you say?" He whispered again, getting to his feet slowly as if they would for a second, not support him.  
  
"What a pity....." I murmured shaking my head, sadly.  
  
He was at the desk in a second, his hands resting heavily on the wood, as he leaned in peering at me, his eyes narrowed as this would make me talk.  
  
"What.....what are you sayin'?" He asked again desperately.  
  
"Oh, I was saying it's a great pity....."  
  
"No." He snapped, "About your proposition?"  
  
"What? The one you're not interested in?" I asked.  
  
"Yes. What is it." He was starting to lose composure although he was trying hard to hide it.  
  
"Why do you want to know? You're obviously not to keen on the idea......" I smirked.  
  
"Goddamnit, woman!" He responded slamming his clenched fist down on the desk, "Don't toy with me!"  
  
I knew I was being a total bitch but that didn't mean I was going to let him get away with raising his voice against me. And I'd deal with that 'woman' comment later.  
  
"Very well, Inspector." I stated coolly, "It would serve you well to keep that temper of yours in check under my roof. I have been more than fair in these regards having been twice this night slammed against a wall with your threats at my ear. But I'm afraid I must draw the line at you harming a defenceless desk under your hard hand."  
  
"Why not draw it at you?" He sneered.  
  
"I, unlike the desk, am not defenceless, which you will very soon see if you do not get out of my face. Now sit down and let me talk." I commanded coolly, pointing my finger back to his chair. His lip curled in distaste but he complied.  
  
"Here," I said interlacing my fingers on the desk and leaning forward, "is what I propose. I know what must be done."  
  
"How can you know?" Abberline mocked, interjecting.  
  
"Because I am excessively smart, now please let me continue. Now, they are watching Abberline very closely....."  
  
"How does she know this?" Abberline whispered to Godley.  
  
"Well yeh see it all goes somefin like this...."  
  
I shot both of them an impatient glance.  
  
Godley coughed, "I'll explain later." He whispered back.  
  
I cleared my throat, "As I was saying......We know they're watching your every move, and they will continue to unless they have cause to think you have forgotten your rage against them and forgotten about her......." I looked pointedly at him.  
  
He looked almost thoughtful, as if he were considering it, a finger on his bottom lip, "Go on." He murmured.  
  
Here came the part I was embaressed to speak. I looked down at my clasped hands, "To do this you must act the part. Here is what we do......" I took a calming breath, "Abberline wills stay here under the idea that I am helping him to recover from Opium and Absinthe overdose. Durring this time," I coughed and said very fast under my breath, "Abberlinemustpretendtofallinlovewithme."  
  
"Wait, what did you say?" He asked, raising his hand from his lip.  
  
'Just say it!' "You must pretend to fall in love with me."  
  
His eyes widened in disbelief.  
  
"In a year," I continued, "if not less (for the both of our sakes) we will stage a wedding. They will be convinced that you no longer remember anything of Mary Kelly and will cease to suspect you of doing them harm. With them out of the way, it will be all too easy to have our Honeymoon consist of a trip to Ireland."  
  
Abberline was silent. I felt my heart grow wings and flutter uneasily in my chest.  
  
"And all I have to do in exchange for your help is pretend to love you?" He asked turning in his seat and narrowing his eyes to slits.  
  
Did I stutter, dumbass? I thought nervously but I nodded my head, "Enough to convince everyone."  
  
"Never."  
  
Damn! I was burned! Do I smell smoke? Cause that insult could have been in that You Got Served movie! I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. A strange sensation filled my nose. Like that feeling when ocean water stings both nose and eyes. It wasn't a very pleasant sensation. I blinked once.....twice.  
  
"And why not?" I had no emotion in my words or face.  
  
"Because hate I you."  
  
I gulped but my throat was dry as sandpaper.  
  
"You don't even know me." I said.  
  
"I know you. You and your aristocratic upbringing. You don't care for anyone but yourself and only then when it's of greatest profit to you. What are you being given to act as if you care?"  
  
My temper began to seep through, "Just because a person is wealthy," I said rising, "does not make them unkind. It's about time you realized, Abberline, the whole world is not out to get you. In fact there are some people in it, who would gladly try to help you. Now, I will ask again."  
  
"Don't bother. You have my answer and it is no."  
  
Godley looked frantically between the two of us.  
  
"Very well then." With rapid, jerky movements I made to leave. Abberline continued to sit, unmoving, his eyes following me to the door.  
  
Throwing it open I turned back to them, "Good night gentlemen, leave when you feel ready. I really don't care at this point. Maybe by then I'll be gone as well."  
  
I stormed out, slamming the door behind me. I was almost at the front door, cane in hand, when Godley thundered down the hall to me.  
  
"Miss Harlington!" He called. I turned rather coldly to stare at him. I was never cold to Godley but right now I just wanted to be left alone. "Where are yeh goin'?!"  
  
"Somewhere. Anywhere. As long as it's far away from here!" I pulled on my cloak savagely, "God what I wouldn't give for a Starbucks right about now!"  
  
"A......a what?" Godley asked trying to deter me.  
  
"Tell me, where would you go to get a good drink?" I asked him frankly.  
  
"What Miss?!" He asked astounded.  
  
"A drink. A stiff one." He was still staring, mouth gaping in a goldfish like way, eyes huge, "Hard liquor?!" I asked him.  
  
"I....I......I...that would ah.....be ah....the Ten Bells." He stuttered.  
  
"Ten Bells, it is then." I said nodding and throwing open the door, stepping out into the night, calling for the carriage. Godley hurried down the steps after me.  
  
"Yeh don't actually mean yer goin' to the Ten Bells, are yeh?!" He exclaimed.  
  
"That I am indeed, Sergent."  
  
"In god's name why?! Yeh won't last the night there!" He looked really worried.  
  
"That's why I'm going there. That and the fact that I'm going to get totally buggered on my way to Hell when I don't last the night, that is if I can wangle it."  
  
The coach driver opened the door helping me in. I slammed it shut as Godley came up to the window.  
  
"Tell the High and Mighty Abberline I'll see him there." I told him.  
  
"What? At the Ten Bells?"  
  
"No," I replied, "in Hell." I rapped my cane sharply on the wall. "Drive on."  
  
I left Godley wringing his hands on the sidewalk. 


	7. The Constant Quest for Caffine and My He...

Disclaimer: I really don't want to say this. I'm rebelling. It's stupid. So there. (walks out then pops back in) And oh yeah I don't own nothing but the clothes on my back and my Once Upon a Time In Mexico cd.  
  
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Here's a math question for you. What do you get when you add one very depressed girl in the wrong century and at least five mugs of alcohol?  
  
Answer: Big Trouble  
  
"And then they made me their chief....." I said, pausing to take a big swallow of ale, to the group who surrounded me.  
  
How many drinks does it take to make you blind stinking drunk, do you think?  
  
"Is tha' true?" One whore asked haughtily.  
  
I burped, "Psssssh naw! I got it from Captain Jack Sparrow!"  
  
"Oo's 'ee?" Someone else asked at my side.  
  
"He's dead sexy." I confided as I downed the last gulps in my mug.  
  
It had been hours (how many I'm not sure) since the carriage dropped me here at the Ten Bells. I had ordered the driver not to come back, and had proceeded to get totally buggered as I had predicted while I regaled an ever growing crowd of all the wonders of the twenty first century. Big no- no, right? Well cut me some slack, I was drunk.  
  
"Some rum, some rum! My kingdom for some rum!!" I yelled, waving my glass around. People ducked, the glass almost hitting their heads. Someone took a hold of my wrist. I couldn't really see, everything was going fuzzy around the edges.  
  
"Why don'tya let me pay for this one?" Someone murmured into my ear, taking the mug from my hands.  
  
"Fine by me."  
  
Whoever it was put an arm around my waist, "Pay for the drink and get your filthy paws of my silky drawers!" I crowed and then burst out laughing uproariously, slapping the table. No one else was laughing.  
  
"Jesus!" I shouted, "Haven't any of you seen GREASE?!"  
  
I saw a lot of blank stares.  
  
"That sucks."  
  
Another mug was pressed into my hand. Taking it, I stood, swaying on my feet. "So long suckas! I'm gonna go and see if I can find a Starbucks in this crappy little town! Buh BYE!"  
  
I think I bumped into about a dozen people trying to get to the door and then.....I was out!  
  
"I'll walk ya home." It was the man who paid for my drink.  
  
"It's a damn long walk, bucko," I murmured sluggishly. Was I supposed to feel this wretched? "and I don't think you can time travel."  
  
"Then I'll walk ya to my home." He said running a hand down my arm, to the hand that still held the mug.  
  
"No!" I yelled moving the mug into my other hand, "My beer! Not yours, dungbreath! Now take me to a damn Starbucks!"  
  
"As milady wishes." He said, putting a guiding but possessive arm around my shoulders.  
  
"Yo, my dog," I told him as he walked me down the streets. This felt like a dream. Those dreams where you know trouble is coming your way but you can't stop it from happening, "invading my personal bubble. BUBBLE! Back off."  
  
Than man merely laughed. I felt so strange but I knew that spider crawling feeling running up my spine. My womanly intuition, no matter how smashed, was ringing the alarm bell.  
  
"Ya know what?" I asked him, whoever he was.  
  
"Wha'?"  
  
"Ya give me the Heebie Sheebies. So's I think I'll find the Starbucks by meself....ok, great, call me....."  
  
"But we're here." He said.  
  
"Oh.....ok then."  
  
He guided me down an alley. Now if I wasn't so disgustingly drunk I would have known he was lying, but as it was I was so desperate for a cappicino that I wasn't thinking straight. I wasn't walking that straight either.  
  
I saw another shape in the shadows approach us.  
  
"Well, wha' d'we 'ave 'ere?" I knew that voice.  
  
"A tall cappicino," I said, "oh and heavy on the whipped cream. Ok, thanks....."  
  
"Sweet pretty 'ittle thing, ain't she?" The other man said running a finger down my neck. I slapped his hand away.  
  
"No touchie-touchie! Now get me my damn cofffffeeeeeeeee NOW!"  
  
I heard something being poured into my mug.  
  
"There ya go. Drink up now."  
  
"Bout damn time! I should report on how slow the service is here. NOW REALLY!" I took a large gulp, swallowed. And then another. A strange taste filled up my mouth. I spat it out, "I said a CAPPICINO not an EXPRESSO, you MORONS!!" I sputtered, cursing up a storm, "Screw this, I'm going to McDonalds!" I said turning, stumbling to get out from wherever I was.  
  
"I don't think so, pet. Yer stayin' here with us." Someone pulled me back by my waist.  
  
"Like HELL I am!" I roared elbowing. I realized I was outnumbered two to one but I was gonna go down fighting, like G.I. Jane or Buffy I hadn't decided. The two men had me sandwiched between them now. I gave a cry like that of Xena and ran backwards slamming the one behind me into a wall and kneeing the crotch of the one in front of me. I got about maybe seven feet before they tackled me to the ground.  
  
"Let go of me yousonuvabitches!" I screamed.  
  
"When will tha' stuff you gave her kick in?!" One grunted to the other.  
  
"It should 'ave taken affect by now!"  
  
They struggled, forcing me on my back. My hand lashed out, my nails raked across the surface of a shadowed face.  
  
"Fucking BITCH!" Came the yelled response.  
  
My head lashed to the side as I was brutally slapped. But the pain was far way. I felt myself lose feeling. A dream. I was in the dreaming state. I didn't leave my body as the stories tell you you will. I was still in it, trapped in the skin I knew they would rape. I had simply started not to care anymore.  
  
I could feel them working at the laces on my dress. I couldn't move, I was paralyzed. Why couldn't I hear anything but the slow dull thud of my own heart beat? Why did the gaslights blur into a deep brown of someone's eyes? Abberline?  
  
Maybe it was the fact that I was drunk and drugged or that I just wasn't expecting it but one moment they were on top of me.....the next they were flung off and down the alley. Voices echoed in my ears, making it hard to distinguish one from the other, the lights danced, and then I saw the eyes again, but this time they were followed by a face. Abberline.  
  
"Cassandra! Cassandra, I need you to get up!"  
  
"Oh hey there, baby. What's that you say 'up'? I am up, up in Heaven." I told him. I was either dead (and obviously in heaven cause who else would I want up there with me) or this was all a dream and I would wake up soon and wish I were still dreaming.  
  
He chuckled, "No, you're not. You're not dead.....not yet. And I doubt you would get into Heaven with that sharp sailor's tongue of yours."  
  
"This has been such a good dream...." I sighed.  
  
He leaned forward. This is when he kissed me in my dreams. But he didn't kiss me, he just smelled my breath.  
  
"You're drunk....." he stated, "shit....." He muttered, "they gave you Laudanum. "Can you move?" He asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, baby, I've got MOVES you've NEVER seen!" I giggled. If it was Heaven or a dream I was enjoying it.  
  
"I'll take that as a no." He murmured, lifting me in his arms, and I felt some pride in this, knowing I wasn't the lightest thing in the world. I was surprised that he could walk at such a fast pace while carrying me. We broke out of the dark alleyway.  
  
"Godley!" Abberline shouted to a large bulk of a man by a carriage under a street lamp.  
  
"Good god! Wha' 'appened ta her?!"  
  
"The Nickles Gang," Came the explanation by my ear, "Doing what they do best....."  
  
"Fuck....is she....did they?"  
  
"No, I think.....I think I stopped them before they did anything of lasting damage."  
  
"Thank god."  
  
My voice spoke without my knowing, "Abberline?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I know you hate me and I know you don't trust me but I need to tell you this before I wake up.......or die......"  
  
He sighed tiredly, "You're not going to die, you twit. And when you do wake up you have the Devil's Headache."  
  
"Shhhhhh!" I hushed him, "I'm trying to profess my undying love."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Well, I guess that just about sums it up. Yes, I love you......or at least I think I do.....ya know what they say?!"  
  
"Oh god!" Abberline gasped in horror.  
  
"Boy, it's just the drugs they gave her, pay no mind......"  
  
I started to sing, "All ya need is love, da da da da, all ya need is loooove, da da da da da da, all ya need is LOVE! Loooooooooooovvvvveeee is allllllllllllll yaaaaaaaaaaa neeeeeeeeeeeeeed!"  
  
"God!" Abberline yelped again.  
  
"She's got a nice voice," Godley pointed out, "Yeh've got ta hand her tha."  
  
"Do I?" Abberline hissed.  
  
"Can't we all just love eachother?" I asked no one person.  
  
"No!" Abberline snapped.  
  
"Please no......" Godley echoed Abberline's sentiments.  
  
"Hey," I said turning to Godley as they both helped me into the carriage, "I know you......"  
  
"Sure ya do." He said brightly.  
  
"Sure I do......you're HAGRID the half man, half GIANT. Yo where's Harry and Dumbledore my man?"  
  
"Remember Godley, "Abberline smirked getting in beside me, "it's just the drugs they gave her, pay no mind........"  
  
"And," I added, "don't worry darling, women will line up around the block for you even though you are kinda pudgy.....so hun, you don't have to lose any weight!"  
  
Presently I fell asleep. 


	8. Who the hell is this sitting in front of...

Disclaimer: Still rebelling.....for crying out loud you know I own nothing except for myself, I can't even handle owning that for cripes sake!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
I nestled deeper into the covers, hibernating in the warmed sheets. I wondered why mom hadn't woken me up yet. Oh well, five more minuets wouldn't hurt, maybe I could just drift off into sleep, lulled deeper into dreamland by the trains making their rounds, the clip-clop of horses and their......carriages?  
  
I sat up quick as a bolt the light of day blinding my eyes and a terrible stabbing pain in my head assaulting me. Putting my head in my hands I moaned pathetically. If I didn't know better I'd say I had a hangover from hell. When I raised my head and finally opened my eyes, squinting in the harsh light I saw a familiar man sitting in a chair across from my bed.  
  
"So I'm pudgy now, am I?" He asked smiling.  
  
I moaned again as the events of the previous night came rushing back to meet me like a slap.  
  
"God...." I whimpered, the ache in my head becoming a blinding pain, "No, no, no......it was a dream it had to be, no, no, no......"  
  
I continued muttering my little mantra of hope while Godley got up and crossed to the door. Opening it he murmured to someone waiting outside the door, "Can we get some tea? Miss Harlington just came round."  
  
"How long have I been out?" I asked rubbing my eyes still not believing, but trying my best to realize it as truth.  
  
"Almost a day." He replied.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"I said almost, lass." He pointed out.  
  
I moaned again.  
  
"Are you alrigh' miss?" Godley asked worried.  
  
"Give me a pepcid and I will be. God!" I shuddered. I felt disgusting.  
  
"Well in that case I have a few things to say to you young Missy." He began sternly, "Just what the devil were you thinkin' last night?! You were almost beyond our aid! The Nickles Gang found ya...and well......you're confined to the grounds young lass!"  
  
"What?!" I snapped. This hangover was doing nothing for my irritation levels, "You can't do that!"  
  
"Oh hoo! It seems we can and you'll not be leaving until yeh've recovered!" He added.  
  
"But this is my house!" I exclaimed. It actually wasn't but why bother being picky? "Besides you've got it backwards. I'm supposed to make Abberline stay here and HE'S not allowed to go off......."  
  
"Is he now?" Godley answered sassily, "Well that wasn't what he said an hour ago when he prepared to leave..."  
  
My heart slowed down coming to hiccup violently in my throat. I swallowed air, my insides felt like gravel. I felt awful. "Oh god....." I whispered in horror.  
  
In one wild movement I was out of my bed and sprinting (actually I was staggering but who's paying attention?) down the hall to Abberline's room.  
  
"Miss!" Godley called frantically after me, "Miss! You really should stay in bed!"  
  
I ignored him. If Abberline left then I would never accomplish my wish....and if I never accomplished my wish, my sickness threatened to nauseate me at the next thought, I might never get back home!  
  
I reached his door and rained down furious bangs upon it's surface.  
  
"ABBERLINE! OPEN THIS BLOODY DOOR, YOU POOR EXCUSE FOR A COPPER!! OPEN IT OR I'LL BREAK IT DOWN!! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL BLOODY BREAK IT DO.....YAAAAH!!" I yelped as the door opened suddenly and I fell forward onto the floor.  
  
"Ow." I groaned.  
  
"Miss Harlington," came a deep smug chuckle above me, I looked up. Hey cool, Abberline was upside down, "that was quite an entrance."  
  
"Help me up....." I growled, while Godley sputtered with laughter hanging on to the door frame.  
  
Abberline cocked his head, "And why would I do that?" He smirked playfully.  
  
"Because I'll bite your ankles off if you don't, and I'm in a good position to do so."  
  
He chuckled again and bent down to offer me a hand. I eyed it warily, what, was he going to give me his hand then drop me? Grumbling, I took his hand and in a swift motion he had brought me to my feet beside him.  
  
"Now what the HELL is this about you leaving! Look, I know we finished this yesterday by your standards, but I'm not finished with you bub, and I have a few things to say......whoo I'm spinning....everything's spinning....." I said putting a hand to my head as the room tilted. I closed my eyes as I grabbed a hold of Abberline's jacket.  
  
Abberline chuckled again.  
  
I opened my eyes angrily, "Stop laughing, it isn't funny!" I snapped annoyed.  
  
"I'd say it bloody was!" Godley gawfawed.  
  
"Tea, Miss Harlington?" Abberline smirked walking to his desk in the room.  
  
"Don't you TEA me, you two-bit......" I struggled for an insult. Abberline rose an eyebrow expectingly, "...chuckle-head!"  
  
Chuckle-head? Where the hell had that one come from?  
  
"Godley," Abberline smiled over me, "would you leave us alone for a moment while I discuss something with Miss Harlington?"  
  
Godley nodded, still red, holding in his laughter, turned and closed the door behind him.  
  
I knew it! Abberline was planning on murdering me in this room!  
  
"I must admit I thought you would come here a bit more properly attired." Abberline coughed back a laugh.  
  
I looked down seeing I was only in my nightgown.  
  
"There just so happens to be a robe in my closet." He murmured pouring tea.  
  
I glared at him, then raced to the wardrobe quickly pulling out a robe and wrapping it around myself.  
  
"Take a seat." Abberline commented pointing to a chair across from the one his teacup rested on.  
  
I shook my head confused, why was he being so nice?  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yeh are familiar with the idea of bending your knees to sit down, aren't ya?" He mocked sitting himself.  
  
Something was seriously messed up here.  
  
I nodded numbly as I took the seat across from him. I watched him as he took a sip from his cup, and then placed it at his side.  
  
"How are ya feeling this morning?" He asked finally after a long pause.  
  
My eyes widened, "What?"  
  
He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Do I really have to explain everything to ya this morning?" he asked, his cockney accent becoming more pronounced with his irritation.  
  
"Who are you and where have you stashed the real Abberline?" I asked skeptically.  
  
He sighed rubbing his face as if very tired, "Yes, about that. Listen, I know I've been damned unreasonable and there is no excuse for my behavior the past two days." He paused, "I have spent quite o' lot of time thinking about your plan. All last night ta be exact.....and I agree to it."  
  
Silence and then.....  
  
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE A POD PERSON!! DEAR SWEET LORD, SAVE US ALL!!" I shouted hoarsely, frantic as I tried to scramble out of the chair, away from this stranger in front of me.  
  
Surging from his seat, Abberline placed a hand over my mouth, "Quiet girl!" He warned softly, "Calm yerself."  
  
He took his hand away.  
  
"What are you? Are you some kind of evil spirit?" I asked unnerved, "Some demon taking Abberline's form?"  
  
"I'm myself, Miss Harlington. Are you?"  
  
"Oh, oh!" I exclaimed, "I know how to banish you!! Umm I saw it on an episode of So Weird, now what ere the words of the spell......?"  
  
Abberline waited patiently while I ranted.  
  
"Damnit, I can't remember the words! You have no power over me? No, no, get outta my head Labyrinth!"  
  
"Are you quite done?"  
  
"No! Well yes.....for the moment at least."  
  
"Good, then perhaps I can get in a word or two before you shoot off your mouth again?"  
  
"Maybe but don't bet on it." I admitted grudgingly.  
  
Silence desended again.  
  
"I saw you." He finally muttered, "Last night. I saw what would have happened to you."  
  
Even though I felt a chill creep over me I fell back easily into my costume of the woman's body I was in.  
  
"Pardon me?" I asked.  
  
"Godley informed me of our similar 'connections'. I assumed you'de understand what I was talking about."  
  
I did, "You had a vision?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"About me?" I asked surprised.  
  
A pause as he looked up at me then down at the cup in his hands again, "Yes."  
  
'Of course' I nearly smacked my head, 'how else would he know dorkus. Come on, you have seen the movie!'  
  
"Well it's a good thing for me you did."  
  
"Yes, it altogether was." He admitted, "But it was the first time.....the first time I saw before the thing itself happened.....and it happened without the aid of the drugged sleep." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  
  
"I....I'm afraid I don't understand, Inspector," I struggled leaning closer.  
  
"I can't think of a reason for this" he continued almost angrily, "it's never happened before. I CAN'T think of a reason....'cept you."  
  
"Me?" I again was surprised.  
  
Abberline's gaze was serious, "You are not who you seem to be, Miss Harlington."  
  
What exactly would happen if he found out I was a fake? Best to play it cool. I huffed haughtily, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Inspector," I tittered, which was pretty hard to do, have you ever tried? "but I'm sure I have never been anyone other than myself....."  
  
"What is your name?" He asked suddenly.  
  
I was taken aback, but then regained my senses, "After all this time you still don't know my name? You're memory must be slipping old boy."  
  
"Your real name." He clarified.  
  
Oh....  
  
If I admitted I WASN'T Cassandra Harlington, would he lock me up? I remembered the state of the prisons and mental wards from the movie. In the great words of Loki in Dogma, "Fuck THAT. FUCK that!" I wasn't going there for anybody.  
  
I got to my feet fast, "Inspector, I have no idea what is bringing about this madness of a discussion but I suggest it end now. You need to eat and I am not yet dressed so I think we should ugh...." I searched for a word, "uh....." I started to back up to the door, " depart....like now." I hurried the rest of the distance, to grab the handle of the door, and wrenched it open. It slammed shut a mere second later. Stricken, I spun to see Abberline had his hand pressed against it's surface, holding it in place.  
  
"No, not now. I'm not done with you."  
  
"Get away from the door." I ordered slightly losing my nerve.  
  
"Tell me who..you..are." He commanded quietly again.  
  
I gulped, my back now to the wood, "Cassandra Harlington."  
  
His fist slammed down on the space by my right ear. I turned my head the other way as I cringed.  
  
He leaned closer to whisper this, "I've seen things, Miss Harlington. In my vision. Things I cannot believe nor begin to understand. These things....you, are not from this time. Are not from this world. I asked you last night for the truth. I want it now."  
  
It was the first time I had really looked at him since our first meeting, and he was close enough for me to see the iris's of his eyes. They were a dark brown, speckled with gold, and the slight grey blue of Robin's eggs. They were the eyes of the man I had promised myself to save on the other side of the screen. And I knew......I knew I could not lie to him.  
  
"Name?" He asked again.  
  
I whispered the name under my breath.  
  
"I didn't quite get tha'."  
  
Our eyes met, "Sarah."  
  
"Alrigh'" He nodded, "Sarah, where did you come from?"  
  
'From the stork, stupio!'  
  
"America." I hated this.  
  
Again he nodded, then paused making sure I did not drop his gaze.  
  
"What year?"  
  
Frock, what kind of crap hole was I digging myself into?  
  
I pulled in a big breath, "2004"  
  
"Are you sure of tha?"  
  
"Look, I fell through time, I didn't lose my memory, idiot." I snapped.  
  
He sighed, "Tell me everythin'" He said gently taking my arm and leading me back to my chair.  
  
"Everything?" I muttered bleakly.  
  
"Everythin." He confirmed.  
  
I sat as he did and glance at my empty cup.  
  
"We're gonna need tea...." I said suddenly, "we're gonna need a lot of tea."  
  
Abberline smiled as he poured me another cup.  
  
Wait: Rewind. Yep. Just checking.  
  
A smile.  
  
He gave me a SMILE. Hell, I was his. I'd tell him anything he wanted.  
  
I dropped a sugar cube in, "It starts," I began stirring like I cared which direction, "with a boring Friday night and a wish." 


	9. A Visitor, Accusations again when will h...

Disclaimer: Still not sayyyyyyyyingggggg it! Oh just a warning there will be a new character added, and he plays a major role, you lucky ladies will meet him in the next few chapters I hope (one of you already knows so no telling who it is aright?!) So....it begins.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Abberline was speechless by the time I had explained the whole "everything............thing"  
  
"Jesus, Mary, an' Joseph............" He murmured running a hand through his disheveled curly locks.  
  
I had had five cups of tea now and was staring straight through the empty one in my hand.  
  
"An' this plan of yours..........."He asked and I looked up, "..........do yeh think it'll work?"  
  
I shrugged my shoulders, "Well it must be pretty good considering the crazy assed forces of this world just decided to fling me back in time to see the plan carried out."  
  
I had gotten used to using my regular voice with Abberline now, and didn't hold back any of my profanity.  
  
"We'll have ta smooth this over............."  
  
"That is the biggest understatement of the century." I snorted.  
  
"........an' ta do that we need to make some compromises."  
  
"Such as?" I asked suspiciously.  
  
"We let Godley know all of this.........."  
  
"It never crossed my mind that we wouldn't."  
  
"Good. We should also keep your speakin' the hoity toity crap of the society ta continue up with the pretenses tha' you are one of them." He sneered, "And one final thing..............you do not interrupt my work again."  
  
"Meaning...........?" I prodded.  
  
"Meaning you let me take the Opium."  
  
"Over my dead and maggot eaten body." I replied.  
  
"Well," he snapped losing his patience, "tha's not as difficult to  
arrange as ya might think."  
  
"Are you threatening me?" I asked angrily.  
  
"Well I'm certainly not payin' ya a compliment." He shot back.  
  
I narrowed my gaze, "Might I remind you, that the only way this plan will work is if I am apart of it. I am the final say in all things and if I say, 'Sing me a song.' You say, 'In what key?' If I say 'Get me something to eat.' You say , 'Diet or natural?' and if I say, 'You will not chase the Dragon again, so help me god!' you say, 'Yes mam.' Got that?"  
  
I could practically see the rage tighten his jaw, "Might I remind YOU, madam, that you are in a different time than your own and in a world you know little about. You survive this only if I help you to. I have the power."  
  
"Wrong. You have nothing."  
  
"I have the truth. If you do not allow me to work I shall inform everyone that you are a fraud."  
  
"Answer me this. Who's gonna believe you, huh?" I mocked, "What person, in THIS society where only fame and fortune matter, will take your word for such a thing? Imagine it if you will, 'Yes only a little while ago I accused a fine upstanding aristocrat of being the man behind the Ripper murders, but I'm telling you she's from another WORLD!' That's a one way ticket to the nut house. No one," I articulated slowly, "will believe you. You have absolutely BOLLOCKS. As of now I am your god, I paint the path to your life or death, so word of advise: Don't piss me off."  
  
"You are a fake." He growled back.  
  
"I'm Cassandra Harlington, and in the words of Princess Leah, 'I am your only freaking hope.'" I had pretty much used up all my pep trying to break down Abberline's door, explaining my story, and giving the women- power-kick-ass-speech and I suddenly felt crumpled like a tissue tossed aside (not the greatest of feelings believe you me) I dropped my head in my hands and sighed, "Somehow we've forgotten I'm trying, I'm honest to god, trying to help you."  
  
His voice was rough but gentle, "I know." And then he chuckled softly, "You just have a way of helping tha' doesn't include tact."  
  
"Blame the women's lib movement." I muttered smiling as I raised my head, "Our times just don't mesh well together. I don't suppose we will either." I frowned and looked down at my hands, "Shame really."  
  
Of course I heard the swish of garments as he rose but I found myself shocked as he kneeled in front of me and took my hands in his. Whoah! Not that I didn't like this picture, I mean it brought to mind wedding bells , a white dress, and good lord in heaven I was imagining the Wedding Night! Stop film, stop film!  
  
He sighed as I had, "Look, I'm not sayin' it isn't goin' ta be hard cause it is, but I think for this ta work it can't just be you helpin' me or me helpin' yeh. So no shame, we have ta mesh to pull this off." He paused trying to get me to look at him, which I did, oh with jerky puppet stiffness, but I did.  
  
"Do you understand, Sarah?"  
  
I nodded my head slowly.  
  
He didn't release my hands but continued to hold them. The touch before had been comforting and innocent but suddenly it felt horribly intimate and my breath caught in my throat.  
  
The door opened, our heads snapped to look at it.  
  
"Miss?" Ellie ventured brightly, stepping in, her eyes widening in shock as she caught sight of our position before hastily dropping her gaze to the floor to curtsey politely.  
  
I snatched my hands out of Abberline's as if they were made of hot melting wax. I clenched my hands together in the folds of my dress.  
  
"Yes, Ellie, what is it?" I asked stiffly, voice slightly quavering.  
  
"Yes, miss, forgive me miss," she stumbled still gazing raptly at the ground. Abberline rose slowly to his feet, looking oddly uncomfortable, "but there's someone a callin' for yeh."  
  
I stood myself, clutching the robe closer, "Who, Ellie?"  
  
"Mr. Ferral, miss. Dr. Ferral."  
  
Abberline's face pulled taunt in a grimace of fury. I thanked everything that can be praised that Ellie still had her eyes glued to the floor. I looked at him quizzically as he stretched his jaw out to loosen the rage in his face.  
  
"Uh," I put a hand to my hair, which had not been released from hit's bun the night before, and I'm sure looked like a dust bunny or one of Christina's hairstyles, "well show him into the parlor then." Did we even have a parlor? Damned if I knew. Abberline sent me a glance of pure disbelief.  
  
"Very good, miss." Ellie voiced, curtseying again and made to depart quickly.  
  
"Oh, Ellie!" I called to her, "I will need your assistance in dressing."  
  
"Yes, miss, yes, yes, of course." and with that she scurried out.  
  
"Another point for my sense of tact." I smirked.  
  
"Wha' is in yeh head, woman!?" Abberline asked flabbergasted.  
  
"What?! What could I have possibly have done NOW!?" I asked.  
  
His finger flew to point at the door through which Ellie had disappeared, "Why the fuck did you let tha' man in this house?!"  
  
I shrugged my shoulders, "Why the fuck not? He bang Mary Kelly or something? Is that why you're having a cow?"  
  
"You're telling me yeh don't know?!"  
  
"Am I supposed to?" I asked genuinely perplexed.  
  
"You tell me. You're the one who has come from the future."  
  
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I pay attention to things there. What did he do to get you all in a tantrum?"  
  
"He, at the moment, is one of the Heads of the Society of the FreeMasons, Sarah!"  
  
"What?!" I choked out.  
  
"You better hope to god you have a plan that won't have their whole damn clan upon our heads."  
  
"Ok, ok, just calm down," I said this hyperventilating, "We continue with THE plan and we'll just wing it."  
  
"We'll wha'?"  
  
"Oh for the love of mike............we'll make it up as we go along!"  
  
"You plan to meet with that man, with only a hazy idea of wha' ta do, and make the............rest...........up?!"  
  
"Do you have any better ideas?! Is a light going on in your head screaming, 'Eureka!' cause if so I'd love to hear some suggestions right about now!" I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for his answer.  
  
Abberline strode over, grabbing me by the arm, steering me out the door, "I don't like this."  
  
"Hell and you think I DO ?!"  
  
"We do this my way, understand?" He said severly, walking me down the hall to my room, "No cursing or any of your nonsense, alrigh'?"  
  
"Alright!" I snapped, jesus I wasn't frickin stupid.  
  
We stopped at my door.  
  
"Just on the off chance tha' the bloke tries ta kill me before I explain my presence in the home of a wealthy, unmarried, aristocratic lady's house, why am I here?" Abberline asked.  
  
I rolled my eyes, "Because you're a recovering drug addict, you moron."  
  
He nodded his head briskly, "Though't so. An' one more thing...........don't be too snobby like when I firs' met ya."  
  
"Fine, button your coat, idiot, or he'll think you tried to compromise me."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"Fine!"  
  
Abberline strode down the hall muttering rapidly under his breath. I turned into my room, slamming the door behind me loud enough to be sure to reach his ears.  
  
I pressed my back to the door and sighed deeply. Our first lover's quarrel, I felt elated! Whoohoo, Victory Dance!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Let me say Ellie is a life saver. She practically flew about, while I ran about like a headless chicken, helping me with all the articles of clothing needed to make me look presentable. I think it was Lina Lamont who said when told everyone back then always wore these dresses, "Well, everyone was dumb." I agree. Pretty but then pretty dumb. On top of that I was getting tired of wearing black and it was only my second day.  
  
Twenty minuets later I walked out of my room, cool, calm, and collected, ready for absolutely anything.  
  
Anything is what I found when I reached the parlor, which took about another ten minuets. Why couldn't they just have had road signs in these houses, it would have made everyone's lives back then a whole lot easier.  
  
Anyway, when I got there I was just in time to see a man slam Abberline against a wall. Abberline looked thoroughly bored by this as he raised his arms in surrender. The man had him tightly by the colloar.  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" He hissed.  
  
"I was invited." Abberline replied steadily, all this got him was another slam against the wall.  
  
I remembered who the man was now. Black hair, with a moustache, pale, sickly pale, corpse pale. I was disgusted. He had always reminded me of a rat. He had been the one who had brushed Abberline off at the party and had been initiated into the Order just that year.  
  
"Dr. Ferral," I exclaimed mildly surprised. Score another for life lived on the stage, "whatever are you doing?"  
  
Glancing at me, he turned back to Abberline scowling, "I caught this vermin creeping about your house, Miss Harlington. Shall I call for the police?"  
  
"He is the police, Doctor." I replied calmly, smiling amused.  
  
Silence.  
  
"By all means let him down and take a seat. I shall ring for some tea, standing like that must be quite uncomfortable."  
  
His eyes darted between me, with a look of doubt, and Abberline with a look that all but said, "If she were not here you would be a bloody smear on this pretty wall." He slowly let go of Abberline's neck, then straightened his suit.  
  
Turning to me he bowed, "Pardon me, madam, but I was worried for your safety."  
  
"You are forgiven then." I granted him with a kind smile, which he returned. Oh, GROSS! "I must say this visit is welcomed," Gag me with a spoon! "but somewhat sudden." I sat after indicating him to do the same.  
  
"Forgive me for not warning you at the Cardan's dinner last week that I would be paying you a call but I had to tell you the news in person as soon as I heard word."  
  
"Indeed," I raised a brow, "and that being what, my dear Doctor." I nearly choked on the sweetness I poured into the title.  
  
"Everyone is deeply saddened by the news of your father's passing, and the sickness that destroyed him."  
  
Way to put it gently, asshole.  
  
"We are holding a Charity Ball in three weeks time for him and to raise money to further the study of medicine which might prevent the illness from taking another man's life."  
  
In other words, you need cash to continue your little lab rat experiments. Yeah, I'll put a hundred down for six more carved and mutilated bodies to be found in White Chapel. Jesus.  
  
"I am honored, as would my father, god keep him, if he were still with us." I said softly, reminding myself to look tearful instead of nervous. This guy practically oozed oil.  
  
"I'm sorry, I have pained you." He said in a decaying sweet voice, putting a sweaty hand on mine.  
  
Ew. Ew. Ew.  
  
A cough sounded irritable on the other side of the room. The hand was removed in annoyance. My eyes found Abblerine , thanking him silently.  
  
"And just what exactly are you doing here?" The Doctor snapped at him.  
  
"Ask the lady. She's the one who brought me here." Abberline said smirking widely.  
  
The Doctor turned to gaze at me shocked and repulsed, "Is this so?"  
  
I sighed, "Well, I'm afraid it is true, Dr. Ferral. I found him unconscious in an allwy, and just had to bring him home. He is in desperate need of care, can you not see it. Why just look at the poor little thing............." Let him think me simple minded in this case.  
  
He did and his lip curled, "Yes, but why is he still here?"  
  
"I plan to reform him. He looks as if he is in dire need of it, wouldn't you say, Doctor? He is a despicable example of everything that is wrong with this city, an addict close to becoming an insane man about the streets. It must be stopped. I'm going to make an example of him." I smirked. Abberline sent me a look that said, 'Watch it.' I continued, "I am taking on the task of saving him from a life of sin, it is the least I can do."  
  
Doctor Ferral smiled as if it pained him to do so, "You always were too kind to those who least deserved it."  
  
"I know," I murmured, "it is so very tiring, but it is my curse to be charitable, I fear." Oh man I had to bite my lip to hold back my laughter. I was feeding him bullshit and he was just scarfing it all down like a gourmet meal.  
  
He made another glance between Abberline and I and suddenly his smile grew easy and more distorted in it's cunning, "Well why don't you bring him along, my dear. It is a Charity Ball, and what better guest to a charity benefit but a charity cause?"  
  
I broke into a wide smile, "Why Doctor Ferral what a wonderful show of genius! You are perfectly brilliant!" Inside I was cringing. Putting Abberline in a room full of men who had tried to kill his lover would be like putting a beautiful Siberian Tiger amongst a hunting camp looking for game.  
  
Abberline stiffened in the corner. Maybe I could stop this before it began. I let my face fall in disappointment.  
  
"But I cannot possibly go, my dear Doctor. I am still in mourning." I lowered my eyes then raised them, "It would not be right of me to celebrate so soon after my father's death."  
  
Ferral took in my garb of woe and his attentions slid over other aspects as well. My fingers dug into my palm to still my desire to either cover myself or to smack him. I heard a soft growl from Abberline's corner, but I believed I imagined it.  
  
"My dear, society has missed your............vibrant company," Ferral smiled in a purposefully lecherous way, and he a supposed gentleman! "I'm sure you would be forgiven simply by making an appearance."  
  
"Oh, I do not know..............."  
  
Suddenly he had grabbed my hands again, and I nearly jumped in fright, "Trust my word, madam. Everyone will be glad of you having been there. Do please try to remember the event is in your father's memory. You would not cease to honor it would you by not gracing us with your presence, I fear?"  
  
He had me trapped elegantly. Backed and boxed into a damn corner. That son of a whorish bitch!  
  
"I suppose I could drop by just for a bit.................."  
  
I could feel Abberline's displeasure with me from across the room.  
  
"Good, then, it's all settled. I'll send for you on Saturday eve in three weeks." He rose, "Now that my task is finished, I must take my leave."  
  
Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.  
  
"I'll see you to the door, Doctor Ferral." I rose politely. And I'll hit you myself.  
  
As soon as we were in the hall alone he whispered to me, "Do you fear for yourself?"  
  
"My whatever do you mean?"  
  
"Having that godless man under this roof, and you alone?" He made clear.  
  
"I am hardly alone, Dr. Ferral, I have a loyal staff of thirty." Or was it fifty?  
  
"If you should ever need aid................" He began.  
  
I shall have it with me, "You shall be the first I look to." I assured him. Christ did everyone lie this much back then?  
  
He raised my hand then and kissed it. His lips were wet and sickening, "I shall see you in three weeks, Cassandra."  
  
We were on a first name basis? That was stopping NOW.  
  
"I can hardly contain my excitement." Oh yes I can, I said sweetly. Man, I was lying through my teeth, shouldn't my nose have been sixty feet long by now?  
  
Ellie brought him his top hat and cane. Bowing again he tipped his hat and walked down the steps. I closed the door and moved to put a hand to my head but stopped. No, wash your hands first. You don't want the feel of that man on you a second longer, do you? My face screwed up in a grimace of revulsion. Turning to flee to the bathroom I found Abberline behind me, arms crossed looking quite peeved.  
  
"Wha' the fuck was all tha' about?" He asked darkly.  
  
With a sigh I pushed passed him to the direction of the bathing room.  
  
"Did I act the part correctly?" I sneered, not understanding why he was so upset, as I strode down the hall, "A whore to power, isn't that how you described it?"  
  
"You practically offered yourself to him." He spat, then began to imitate me with cruel precision, "Oh my dear sweet Doctor, let me bat my eyelashes and bite my lip enticingly and pray to god tha' yeh take me now."  
  
That stopped me dead. I whirled on him, "Go screw an alley cat, Abberline, you're out of your mind!"  
  
"Well at least it's better," he whispered coldly, "then begging for a murderer to top me off."  
  
My hand flashed out catching him on the left cheek, his head snapped to the side and my palm stung something awful, but I didn't care, I was enraged. I couldn't think of words strong enough to hurl at him only one sentence quivered menacingly in my throat.  
  
"How............Dare.............You!" I hissed venomously.  
  
He turned his head and eyed me hardly. I felt tempted to make his other cheek smart too but turned instead and continued to the bathroom. Reaching the door a hand pulled me back at the crook of my elbow, roughly tugging me back.  
  
"You expect me ta think you wouldn't betray me now tha' I know how fond you are of the young Doctor?" He sneered hatefully.  
  
"Leave me the hell alone!" I roared, "Don't you get it?! I don't want to talk to you now! I mean I actually thought.........I mean what was all that shit you said about helping?! About helping eachother?! I don't think calling me a fucking prostitute for a second time qualifies as helping! So until you get a Webster's and find out what that word means I want you to piss off!"  
  
I yanked my out of his grasp and bolted into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.  
  
~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I cried for a time, muttered curses for another. Finally I began to wash my hands. I could not put enough soap on, as I scrubbed so hard my flesh turned red.  
  
I didn't know he was in until he said my name. How he got in I don't know. Probably picked the lock, hey sometimes it payed to be an Inspector in the slums.  
  
"Just go away." I croaked my voice hoarse. Like I wanted him to see me when I looked like a sniveling damsel in distress. I scrubbed harder, wincing as my skin began to burn. I saw his hands turn off the water.  
  
"Fuckin' Christ, Sarah, wha' did ya do?" He murmured taking my hands, "They're raw."  
  
"I didn't want HIM on me. Abberline get away from the faucet. I have to, have.........have," My mouth caught on that one word, couldn't work around it, "HAVE to keep washing..............I feel like I'll never be clean if I don't. Just move!" I tried to push him out of the way , but he somehow managed to make me sit on the edge of the tub.  
  
"Yeh know tha' helpin' thing, tha's what I'm doin' now, so just sit down, an' don't argue with me." Taking a small towel he ran it under the cold water and coming back wrapped my hand in it. I jerked as it touched my sensitive skin.  
  
We didn't talk as he kept wetting the cloth and then applying it to my near bloody hand. Little by little my head cleared of the frantic anger and my head pounded from my tears.  
  
"I'm sorry." I murmured and it took me a moment to realize it wasn't that the bathroom was so large and there was an echo, but that Abberline has whispered the same thing.  
  
We had both been looking down at my hands, but the strange coincidence made us raise our heads.  
  
"What for?"  
  
There we go again. We chuckled slightly, there was a pause.  
  
"For suspecting you and for insinuating you were a...........a............"  
  
"Common whore." I finished, "For advising you to screw a cat?" I added.  
  
"Tha' was disturbingly descriptive." He said pulling a face, "Did that just tumble out because of the anger?" He chuckled but I had sobered as I looked at his cheek. It was as red as my hands, practically had my hand print branded on it's surface.  
  
I reached out a tentative hand to hit, "That too. I'm sorry for that too." I apologized touching it gently. He flinched slightly tuning his head.  
  
"Don't worry abou' it. It was called for. Any aristocratic woman these days would have done the same in your position." He murmured, eyes glancing around at everything but me. I let my hand drop.  
  
"But I'm not them. I'm usually very passive-aggressive." I informed him.  
  
He snorted clearly not believing me, "I find that very hard to believe."  
  
I punched him on the arm.  
  
"See!" He exclaimed, "See that there is violence!"  
  
We both laughed.  
  
"You look a fright." He smirked, pulling some tendrils of hair away from my blotchy face.  
  
"Oh ho!" I laughed, "Well you look like you've been bitch slapped by twenty ex-lovers all on the same cheek!"  
  
The look on his face was priceless, and seeing it made me laugh so hard I fell backwards into the tub. It was empty, thank god, but all the mounds of skirts left me flailing around, stuck.  
  
Tears sprang to Abberline's eyes as he clutched his side and howled with laughter.  
  
"Well, help me up why don't you and do something useful!" I exclaimed struggling to hoist myself up.  
  
He was laughing so hard that no sound came out save for the sound of wheezing air as he tired vainly to catch his breath.  
  
"For crying out loud, it wasn't that funny!"  
  
"Oh yes.........." He gasped, "it was."  
  
"Just get me out of here." I ordered.  
  
Nodding, his laugh softened to a chuckle as he grasped my elbow and pulled me to my feet. He pulled me up too swiftly because I more or less found myself pressed against him. The air was suddenly thick, tightening my throat, heating my cheeks, and my heart did a Tower of Terror thing and rose thirteen stories to drop then rise up again, like one of those damned rubber balls that can ping pong off walls. I gulped. Abberline's breathing had slowed, deep and deliberate, hot on my neck. My eyes were near to closing and I was found myself swaying, almost as if I would black out.  
  
"A Charity Ball, then?" He murmured in my ear.  
  
"Huh.........what?" I asked feeling almost high this close to him. OH man, oh MAN I could write fifty one hundred bad songs about how he was like a drug, my own personal opium. Don't worry, I snapped out of it fast. "Oh yes, yesyesyesyes............." I slurred all the yes's together quickly as I shook my head all but jumping back from him. Then realizing what a Ball entitled I changed it to , "no, no, god no! What in the name of all things holy have I agreed to?!"  
  
"Wha'?" Abberline asked concerned.  
  
"I can not dance to save my life!"  
  
That did it, Abberline was in hysterics again.  
  
"Stop it!" I complained, "This is really bad."  
  
"It doesn't have ta be," he smothered another laugh, "We have three weeks, tha' should be plenty of time to get you caught up on the basics."  
  
"No no no," I warned him away, as he reached out a smug smile on his face, "I don't' even want to tell you the horror stories of dances I've been to. The only dance I'm somewhat good at is the Funky Chicken, don't even get me started on the dangers of me attempting the Electric Slide."  
  
"Under my guidance you'll be a natural." He boasted as he pulled me out of the bathroom and I dragged my feet whining, "Shush now, we'll have ya doin' tha' new racy waltz in no time."  
  
I groaned.  
  
"An' another thing," he added, "try not ta cripple me when yeh step on my toes."  
  
I punched him again.  
  
Ah, the joys of bonding. 


	10. The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly In the Pl...

Disclaimer: You know this by now, so get the warning yourself, I'm lazy and don't want ta do anything. TAKE NOTES: I'm holding a contest of adding a character to come onto Abberline at the Gala for Cassandra's father, while Cass is otherwise involved with another new character. Girls, here is your chance! Make up your own character with your reviews and give me more than just the usual details. When I'm sure the reviews have ceased to come I'll pick one and maybe three lucky girls to make an appearance. Impress me, and write in! ok enough of the propaganda bs, and on with the show! VERY IMPORTANTE! I WANT ALL OF MY LOYAL READERS TO GO TO THE STORY PIRATES HILARIOUSITY IF THE HAVEN'T ALREADY AND READ IT! I WRITE ALL THE CHAPTERS THAT HAVE RACHEL AS THE MAIN CHARACTER AND YES JACK SPARROW!!!!!!!!! If you won't do it for me and my ego do it for yourselves and for the best damn pirate of all time, my Sparrowy Squirrel!!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You're leading again." He reminded me again laughing.  
  
"Well that's only because you keep wanting to dance like a girl." I muttered crossly in response.  
  
We had been at it for four days straight now. I had begun to dance in my dreams and unlike Eliza Doolittle I did not feel like letting it last all bleeding night.  
  
Abberline swiftly executed a move that confused me so badly, I was suddenly four feet from the floor, looking up at him terrified, even with his hand still holding mine and his firm arm across my waist, in a deadly dip.  
  
"Wha' was tha'?" He asked threateningly.  
  
"Why don't you just put on a dress and wear rouge?" I continued baiting him. "Oh sh................" I gasped as he dropped me another foot closer to the floor.  
  
"You were sayin'?" He arched a brow.  
  
Was he daring me? Fine, two can play this............actually a whole bunch of people could play this but yuck! Who would want to?!  
  
"Ooh, someone's corset is a wee bit tight it seems. You better calm yourself man, before you fall over in a dead faint." I warned.  
  
I shrieked as he let go of me for the barest of seconds, catching me again now only two feet from the floor.  
  
"Care to say tha' again, Miss Harlington?" He remarked coolly, smirking widely.  
  
"You wouldn't!" I claimed.  
  
"Give me a reason." He warned.  
  
I narrowed my eyes sizing him up and then opened my big fat mouth, "Your girdle's wrong my lad, it's supposed to go around your waist not up your ass."  
  
With a smile, he dropped me. I screamed in shocked surprise, landing harshly on my back on the hardwood floor of the parlor, which was where he decided to teach all of the lessons. I laughed, every other breath an, "OW," or a "Butthead!"  
  
Ellie flew in, "Miss, we heard a clammerin' sound from the kitchens! Are yeh alrigh?"  
  
"Miss Harlington fell again." Abberline informed my maid and friend helping me up, and brushed imaginary dust from my shoulders.  
  
I swatted him away, "Was dropped is more like it." I muttered, smoothing down my thoroughly ruffled gown.  
  
Ellie looked uncomfortable.  
  
"Ellie, dear, what is it?" I asked hoping she wasn't ill. Who knows what those bastards made their servants work through, disease, pregnancy?  
  
"I was just wonderin' miss, why ya would need ta learn ta dance when yeh've been doing it for six years ta date?"  
  
"It is often a normal occurrence after a tragic loss that the person who suffered to forget things," Abberline assured her. I cocked my head studying him closely. He seemed official and sure as if he encountered such things every day, "It often takes time for things ta come back ta them, as in the case with Miss Harlington." He was almost like a doctor in his answer. Wait a moment. A half lazy idea began to form in my mind, an idea that might come in handy if we were ever in a jam. Maybe.  
  
"Ellie, perhaps you could be of some help to me." I said coming forward, "I still seem to be having trouble getting the waltz down. If you know how to dance this piece, maybe seeing it would help me to remember."  
  
She looked absolutely terrified, and either I was imagining things again or she was blushing madly. Abberline's sexy-come-hither-eyes and you- just-want-to-eat-me-with-chocolate-and-whipped-cream-with-a-big-cherry-on- top-body had once again had it's desired effect on the ladies.  
  
"Me, miss?"  
  
"No, the Queen of England, yes YOU!" I laughed flicking a piece of her hair out of her eyes. "That is if you know it of course." I reminded her.  
  
She shifted shyly, "I believe I do know some of it."  
  
"Wonderful. But first before you begin we need to get you into something a little more fitting for the occasion." I said looking her over.  
  
"Wha'............wha' do ya mean, miss?" She was positively trembling.  
  
"Come with me." I smiled pulling her along with me out of the room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A little while later she was in a light blue dress I would have looked like shit in. I had some trouble with the laces of the gown, I really botched them, but she was already wearing a corset (thank god I didn't have to go near THAT thing) She did most of it herself and by the time I got her back to the parlor she looked as if she should have been mistress of the house, and I should have been serving her breakfast in bed.  
  
Abberline turned as we entered. No doubt he had been looking at the clock thinking I had lost my way yet again (well it was a damn big house, so EXCUSE me) His eyes found me and then settled on Ellie.  
  
Anyone could have felt it. HELL I felt it, and his present gaze wasn't even directed at me. It was that look, you know the one, when men are looking over a girl and more than obviously liking what they see. A look I had never seen upon a man's face while with me. I blithely shrugged my shoulders. No big thing, I was used to being ignored but it didn't mean I would stand for it. I pushed Ellie forward.  
  
"Well," I said throwing them another glance as I went to the gramaphone, placing a smooth black disk on it's surface and winding it up, "perhaps you can show me what I'm doing wrong." And saying this I took a seat..  
  
He bowed while she curtsied gracefully. As the music started scratchily on the turning of the gramaphone table, I felt myself suddenly stiffen.  
  
'I believe I do know some of it' my ass. Ellie was absolutely surreal in the unearthly beauty and poise of her steps, she seemed perfectly melded with Abberline's movements, a thought that made me sick. At first I paid only attention to the movement and position of the feet, so perfectly timed with the beats and strains of music coming from the record player. Elegant and smooth, they practically glided across the floor.  
  
Then my attention became distracted. His half smile as he looked down at her, her growing blush, his hand tightening on her waist crinkling the satin blue fabric of her gown, and her sigh, which despite how soft it was, hit me harshly in my chair. My nails dug into the chair's red cloth as my hands clenched and my jaw tightened.  
  
I scolded myself almost immediately. 'You're pathetic, you know that? A grade A nimrod. YOU made them dance together, so don't start feeling sorry for yourself when they're doing this for YOU.' You know it's pretty hard to ignore that nagging little voice in your head when she happens to be talking good sense. The rolling cramps of jealousy left me as soon as they had pounced, and when the song ended my hands were relaxed and I applauded them.  
  
Ellie tucked a strand of her hair behind an ear embarrassedly and Abberline spun her around a full measure until she finally smiled.  
  
"Let's see if I understand this............" I murmured coming to rejoin Abberline, taking our usual positions.  
  
Ellie smiled and went to restart the ventrola, "Will that be all, miss?"  
  
"Yes, Ellie, I think so. Thank you again."  
  
She nodded and made to leave.  
  
"Oh and Ellie?" I called after her. She turned, her expression puzzled, "Yes, miss?"  
  
"The dress is yours if you wish to have it."  
  
She looked absolutely stunned, her mouth struggled to work but she only looked down at the dress in undisguised wonder.  
  
"The dress..........." I said using small words to help her get through the initial shock, "is............"  
  
She pointed at herself disbelievingly.  
  
".......yours. Yes! See, it's not so difficult a concept to grasp, is it?" I asked her laughing.  
  
She left the room as if she were in a dream and had forgotten how to wake up.  
  
"Alright," I sighed turning back to Abberline, "let's get this over with. Oh..........and you dip me, you die."  
  
Smirking charmingly he deployed another mind boggling dance move which I managed to maneuver through.  
  
"Oh! What NOW?!" I crowed triumphant and annoying, my pride making me overly dumb, "BOOYAH! Eat your heart out Fred Astaire! Thought you'd get me on that one didn't ya?! Didn't work, did it, huh?! Oh yeeaaah!" Of course I was so enthusiastic and enthralled with my own success, when we turned again.......... "Go me, it's my birthday! Not really, but we're gonna party like it's my birthday! You'll find me in da club, body's full of Bud.........daaaaaa I don't know the rest of the words!......so come give me a hug, something, some...Whoa!" I stepped on the hem of my gown and crumpled the floor in a heap.  
  
"Tha's got ta be the sixth time yeh've done that this afternoon." He remarked, cocking his head whilst peering down at me.  
  
"Whoop.........man down!" I giggled insanely, clapping my hands and rolling on the floor.  
  
"Here's wha' I don't understand." He continued, "They have some of the sanest people in those damned hospitals, while I'm here teaching the ONLY real lunatic how ta waltz. Now, doesn't tha' seem odd ta ya?"  
  
I hit him on the pants leg, "Help me up."  
  
He did. We danced and I only fell down one more time..............(crickets chirp) Ok Jimmeny! Three more times.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~  
  
We were into our second week of RiverHell by now and while I wasn't a swan gliding about the lake, I was certainly better than I had first started out as, namely a big dog taking a belly flop into the lake. Yeah........my analogies suck.  
  
It was midmorning, creeping upon noon when we tried the waltz (which happened to be a dance filled to the brim with dark sexual undertones, and was a very rare dance, it was usually played only once in the course of a ball or not at all. That's how dangerous that dance was) one final time.  
  
It was a haunting melody, dark and sensual. It was filled with small caresses that suddenly turned form being accidental brushes to purposefully lingering touches ( see now why I was falling all over the place? I mean wouldn't you be doing the same?) or so Abberline told me. You see he never crossed THAT line, much to my disappointment. He never actually touched me except to hold my hand and guide me with his other on my back.  
  
I had gone through the dance without incident, mostly by looking just to the right side of his face and not into his eyes. (And I mean I wasn't SUCIDAL, come on! I know what those eyes can do!) As we came to the end I began to tense, knowing the hardest move was to come.  
  
Abberline sent me spinning out of his protective arms until I came to a stop, our hands still joined, then pulled me back. Again I spun as he had taught me, raising my other hand he grasped it, drawing me in again, our arms now intertwined in the correct placements. And so the dance ended. I had shut my eyes tight as I spun and now cracked open a lid, cautiously, "Why am I not on the ground?" I asked non-comprehendingly.  
  
"Because you didn't trip or fall, or slip, or............"  
  
"Ok, ok, enough." I stopped him, shaking my head, closing my eyes again, "Wait, you're saying I did it?" I asked startled, opening my eyes fully.  
  
"Yes, I think ya've got it." He said smiling, disentangling our limbs and stepping back. No sooner than he did I leapt at him.  
  
"Really?! I didn't mess up?! Yes!" I asked knocking the air out of his lungs as I hugged him, "Man, I feel just like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady!"  
  
"Say who, in the wha'?" Abberline laughed, confused.  
  
I jumped back, an idea filling my brain.  
  
"Abberline, could you say, 'By George I think she's got it!' for me?"  
  
"By George I think she's got it?"  
  
The room was split with my voice as I sang, not my impressive voice, but just my I'm-listening-to-a-song-on-the-radio-and-don't-care-if-I-sound- terrible-voice.  
  
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"  
  
"Wha'?" Abberline asked amused.  
  
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"  
  
"It rains where?" He asked, totally not getting it, but then I didn't really expect him to.  
  
"ON A PLAIN!" I sang happily, "ON A PLAIN!"  
  
He tugged on his ear, perplexed, "An' where is this soddin' plain again?"  
  
"IN SPAIN! IN SPAIN!"  
  
"Will ya stop singin'? I'm getting' a bloody earache."  
  
"Noooooooooo! I won't!" I sang, sweeping him up into a dance, leading as I used to do naturally making him dance the part of the girl, "THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN! SING WITH ME!!" I cried to Abberline.  
  
"I don't want ta." He all but whined, but was laughing all the same.  
  
"Too bad, sing! THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!" I sang again and this time I heard Abberline join in as well.  
  
Somewhere along the way we danced our ways into a pair of chairs.  
  
"You're an odd one, aren't ya?" He asked.  
  
"Oh yes, was there ever a doubt in your mind?" I asked pointedly of him.  
  
He chuckled, shoving a dampened strand of black hair out of his eyes, "There isn't now, in any case."  
  
I sat up straight in my seat, "We should celebrate my achievements. Let's go somewhere. Let's DO something! Like paint the town and all that jazz, ya know?"  
  
"No, I don't." He laughed rubbing his face, "I don't think I ever will."  
  
"A picnic!" I exclaimed, ignoring him, "A picnic of course! Sunlight instead of these dark corridors, and fresh air!"  
  
I was out of my chair in a flash and ringing for Ellie. She appeared prompt as always. After telling her to alert the kitchens to prepare a lunch basket, I was beaming at the idea of going out, after being trapped inside for two whole weeks. I turned to Abberline with a joyful smile on my face, "I don't suppose they'd have wide open fields in the city would they? Abberline do you know any public parks or gardens, perhaps?"  
  
Abberline's face which had softened now seemed to simply close off, his gaze reserved. The change in him was drastic and without warning. I took an involuntary step back, my smile fought to stay on my mouth, though it faltered somewhat despite my best efforts.  
  
"Yes," he muttered bitterly, "I know one."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Abberline's temperment remained cut off and distant. I tried to ignore it as I busied myself with finding a book or two I might know of in the library, while our lunch was being packed in the kitchens.  
  
The task proved possible though quite tiring. I found very new copies of Mansfield Park by Jane Austin, and a book of verse by William Blake. I had never been so happy as I all but dragged a sullen Abberline with me out the door. Pulling him into the carriage with me, he told the driver where to head to and while I talked a mile a minute he was silent.  
  
'Fine, let him be a butt cause I don't care! I'm out of the house, going to have me a picnic, and no stuffed-shirt-opium-addict-lost-love-complexed- INSPECTOR, is going to ruin it for me!' Such were my thoughts at the time.  
  
When we reached our destination I hopped out all smiles as Abberline thanked the driver and bounded away toward the gates of the park in front of me.  
  
As I entered, I stopped. STOPPED. Just took in what I was seeing and stopped.  
  
It was beautiful.........oh yes. Waist high hedges, birch trees, and the colors in everything were vibrant, so much that it hurt my eyes. I knew this place.  
  
'Do ya have any litt'l ones, Inspector?'  
  
The question floated in my memory, my eyes catching on a familiar bench. The same bench Abberline and Mary Kelly had sat and talked on a day much like this. I clutched the basket crushingly.  
  
Abberline was beside me. I turned to him horrified.  
  
"Oh god, Abberline..........I'm sorry, I really am," I began desperately, "I didn't know, I.........god I'm so sorry..........I forgot that you brought Mary Kelly here........."  
  
He sighed, his bangs hanging low over his eyes. I took one last look at the bench and turned to him, "Let's go. Come on, Abberline, let's go someplace else."  
  
"Oh don't be ridiculous," He murmured low, sending a side glance and a sad smile at me, "it's no reason to ruin a perfectly good picnic."  
  
I looked at him skeptically, "It's a perfectly good reason."  
  
"Listen," he said wearily, "let's just eat. I'm starvin'."  
  
"Are you sure?" I sure as hell wasn't. The guy was about to spout the water works any minute now by my watch.  
  
"Yes." He snapped angrily, shooting me a glance and striding forward.  
  
"Alright." I muttered following him.  
  
Violently, he shook out the red and white blanket, lying it on the grass in the middle of some hedges. Getting to my knees I sat beside him, placing the many delicacies upon the cloth. Abberline stared into the distance, his eyes fixed on a far off object, the bench. I handed him his plate and began to eat even if he wouldn't.  
  
I cut a slice of cheese and for the first time I felt the warning signs of lonliness seep into me. I missed my family, my friends, and all the normal day to day things I had so often taken for granted, so many small things like walking up the steps to my house, or opening the refridgerator, and knowing that I was in a place where people cared for me and I was safe. Now.............now I was in a time with nothing familiar to comfort me, and everything was strange and alien, on top of which I had a murderous clan on my tail, can't see how I forgot that.  
  
I was about to put a fruit in my mouth when I realized what it was. A grape. A vine of plump, dark purple grapes. My face twisted in disgust as I threw it from me, wiping my hands on my gown. Turning my head I caught Abberline watching me.  
  
"What?" I asked defensively, busying myself with getting some more cheese. Ahh, the power of cheese.  
  
"Yeh're crying." He said softly, indicating my cheek. I put a hand to it. Wet. Shit.  
  
I wiped under my eyes brutesqely. Since when did I become a regular old softie? Crying for the second time in two weeks? What in the name of god was going on with me lately?!  
  
"Allergies." I grunted in response. "Well if you're done eating, I think I'll go for a walk, feel free to join me, though I think it better for both of us if you didn't." I said rising, brushing grass stems from the fabric of my dress as I gathered the two books I had brought and walked away.  
  
I had stopped crying, thank all that is unholy, cause I was getting damn tired of doing it. I sat down angrily on a bench, then shifting uncomfortably realized it was the same bench that..........awwww screw it, I was tired of caring if I hurt his feelings.  
  
Taking out a book I began to read. Why were my emotions going up and down like a damn elevator? Maybe I was.........no,fuck,no........PMS!?! I quickly removed that thought, by my internal clock and memory I had two more weeks before that trial began. Fuck, they hadn't invented advil yet. I turned another page not seeing the words running across the page. Why was I acting like a girl who had just hit puberty for Christ's sake?!  
  
I stiffened as a presence sat next to me. I sighed, "Yes?"  
  
"Wha' are yeh readin'?"  
  
I turned to look at Abberline sharply, "Mansfield Park."  
  
"Is it good?" He asked.  
  
"One of my favorites." I explained dully.  
  
"May I?" He asked, his fingers brushing mine as he grasped an edge and lifted it from my hands. It looked as if I didn't have a choice.  
  
"Suit yourself." I muttered coldly.  
  
Taking a pause, he gathered his breath and began to read.  
  
"And I heard a small voice that cried, 'I cannot get out........'"  
  
I inhaled so sharply it hurt. Why was he reading that?! I hadn't even been on that page, had I? He couldn't possibly know it was one of the most romantic parts of the book............or how I'd always imagined I'd marry the man who one day read it to me. I put a hand to my stomach, trying to recall the way to breathe properly.  
  
"I cannot get out." He finished the excerpt softly. Slowly he closed the book, looking at the spine, "It was written by a woman." He commented, handing it back to me gingerly.  
  
"Most of them will be." I replied, taking it back nodding in thanks.  
  
"I don't find it at all surprising." He confessed with an amused smirk.  
  
He had apologized in some sneaky way without my understanding of how he'd done it.  
  
"You read well." I complimented with a playful smile, finding myself forgiving his more than chilly attitude.  
  
"So.........?" He prompted.  
  
"So...........?" I questioned.  
  
He pointed to the book, "Wha' happens next?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Fanny!'" I exclaimed reading aloud, "Crawford called to her, 'You are killing me.' Her beaming eyes glanced down upon the desperate man, it was all very droll and quite a laugh. 'No man dies of love but one the stage, Mr. Crawford.' She whispered to him, laughter in her voice as she ran up the remaining stairs to her room, leaving a devastated and confounded Crawford on the landing."  
  
Abberline laughed, putting a hand to his mouth.  
  
"I'll admit it was witty Abberline, but get ahold of yourself man."  
  
"It'snot tha', yeh have a large flower caught in your hair from the tree. It looks odd." He informed me.  
  
"Honestly, Abberline, the strangest things set you off." I replied batting him with the book gently.  
  
"Here." He said chuckling softly as he reached out a hand and pried a large white blossom from the side of my head, pulling some of my hair from it's bun as he did so. Smiling, he held it in his hand and then let it fall from his fingers. Chuckling, he turned back to me and stilled, the smile faltered on his mouth.  
  
"What?" I asked, laughing nervously, "Goodness sakes, Abberline, what is.........."  
  
He reached his hand out again and the word I had been about to say died on my tongue as he carefully tucked the few strands that had come undone in the flower's departure, behind my ear. His eyes traveled swiftly over me as his fingers slid along my jaw line. I bit my bottom lip hard in distress and in an effort to distract me from the fleeting but lingering brush of his fingers on my skin. And as romantic as if should have been under the circumstances, all I could think of, rather dimly was, 'Oh my god, ohmygodohmygodohmydearsweetmotherofGOD! Why is Abberline rubbing my face?!'  
  
His gaze moved from my lips ('Oh please god don't let him kiss me. I just ate cheese and they haven't invented crest or scope yet!') to flittering over eyelashes and unruly whisps of hair around my face. Something caught his eye behind me and he dropped his hand, cursing suddenly.  
  
"Oh bloody 'ell." He muttered, "He saw tha'."  
  
"What? Who?" I asked tryi8ng to turn my head frantically to see, but Abberline's hand at the side of my face stopped me. He leaned closer to whisper in my ear.  
  
"Your dear Doctor Farrel just witnessed me pullin' the flower from yeh hair. Looks like 'ih cane's been shoved up his arse." He snorted with laughter into my ear. "This will be all over town by tamorrow."  
  
I felt a smirk pull at the corners of my mouth, "Well, honestly!" I exclaimed, "all that fuss over the removing of a flower?! If they're going to be in a tiff it should be over something better than THAT."  
  
"Wha's tha' supposed ta mean? Ya not got a daft idea in your head again, have yeh?" He asked cautiously.  
  
I merely smiled and curling my hand gently around the opening of his coat, I leaned forward and placed a soft, almost childishly simple kiss on his cheek. Pulling back I opened my eyes slowly, a knowing smile on my lips.  
  
Abberline looked composed and calm, but oddly ridged. "Wha' the hell was tha'?"  
  
"Something better for society to talk about at the ball and keep them on their toes." I smothered a giggle, "How's the Doc taking it?" I asked.  
  
"He's just stormed off in a dreadful huff," He commented conversationally, "Betchya he has the story to the newspapers in ten minutes."  
  
I raised the stakes grinning, "Five minutes."  
  
"Yeh don't seem at all concerned abou' it."  
  
"Why should I be? The sooner people begin to think we are an item (or howere the hell you guys say it now) the sooner we can get hitched and move to Ireland and I can get you out of my hair and hand you over to your bonny lass, Mary Kelly."  
  
He looked insulted but the twinkle in his eyes was a sure sign of his sarcasm, "I be your pardon," He clucked putting a hand to his heart, imitating a noble man's voice, "but since when have I been in your hair, Miss Harlington?"  
  
"Since about a minute ago." I chirped the response standing, "Come on old boy, escort a lady to our blanket. We should pack up. Tut, tut, it looks like rain."  
  
Laughing he stood and took my arm, "It looks nothing of the kind, yeh strange gel. We've hours left of sun."  
  
"Nuh uh," I shook my head, "Not me. I have to go and get some sleep."  
  
"Are ya mad, it's only the afternoon, whatya want ta sleep this early for?!"  
  
"And I suggest you do the same, Inspector," I said warmly, "We have quite a day ahead of us tomorrow."  
  
He raised a brow.  
  
"We're going shopping tomorrow for ball dress." I clarified.  
  
"Do we hafta?" He groaned complaining.  
  
"Yes we do," I said firmly, "and your not backing out of it bub. Considering I've given most of my gowns to the female staff and as I was informed by a Dr. Farrel in a letter that a month was long enough to be wearing black, I'm going shopping for some clothes with pizzazz, and you my good fellow need a tux. Plus, I'm a girl, I have money, and I'm gonna spend it, it's only the natural order of things. So pick up your bum and march." I commanded.  
  
"Can I bring a book at leas'?" He asked, giving a look similar to the I'm-a-lost-little-puppy-pity-me- look, as he gathered the quilt and the basket in his arms.  
  
"Yes," I said placing Mansfield Park on top of the other items, "and get used to women authors while you're at it." I left him to walk on his own.  
  
"'Ey!" He called, "Why am I loaded down like a damned cart horse?! Come an' 'elp me."  
  
"I, sir, am lady, and need the access of all my limbs to do such things as sewing and dancing................and scaring pigeons. And there just so happens to be a flock of the beasts over there." And pointing to them I picked up my skirts and charged at them. Of course I hadn't expected there to be some swans there as well and to put it lightly they weren't at all to happy when I tried to pounce them. Screaming as I ran, with the rabid swans at my heels, I heard Abberline remark sassily, "So this............is how ladies act in the future."  
  
"Shut up, you imbecile and save me, damn you! GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's the Attack of Odette and her Killer Swans, the Terror of Swan Lake!"  
  
~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	11. Cruel I know

Author's note: I promised I would never do this but here it goes. I'm such a damned hypocrite. Ok here's the scoop, am currently writing up next chapter, so easy peasy,ok? Now for one or two notes. Many of you have asked what kind of character the woman who the contest for should be like, I want you to surprise me, I am gonna need one cold hearted bitch/seductress and maybe a few tittering friends in between and maybe a nice one. Tell me what she looks like, sounds like, her name, and any other tibits you'd like to add.  
  
Secondly, while you are waiting in breathless anticipation READ PIRATES HILARIOUSITY! As loyal depp lovin fans I expect you to pounce on this story cause hey I've fallen into POTC with my friend Viki and we are currently tearing up the carribean, oh yeah and Jack is mine! So Here to be a horrible person I will update when I have seen a number of those here read it and review, oh hell just read it you know I'll update anyway but it would mean a lot to me and I think you'd really like it.  
  
Thanks shall have the update up soon. 


	12. Evil Eye From the Queer Guy

Can you believe I forgot what you call this word thing ah...got it disclaimer: (waves white flag) I surrender! I have your update, jeesh you guys are ruthless. I have picked those that will be the characters sometimes using just the names or the attributes or the physical description, a skittle rainbow of characters, thank you one and all. The first one is in this chapter the others will come in the next. Without anymore doo doo, here is what you have been waiting for, I hope I don't let you down.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Abberline!" I shouted banging on his door, "Don't make me come in there to get you. We're going shopping and you're NOT getting out of it!"  
  
A piteous moan sounded from the other side of the door. Gently opening it I found Abberline hidden underneath the covers, a pillow over his head. Walking determinedly toward the windows I flung the curtains open, lighting the room in a bright and sudden flash, the figure under the covers groaned once more.  
  
"Get up," I commanded sweetly smacking what I assumed was his rump. The lump grunted and huddled deeper beneath the wonderfully thick comforter. "Go away, yeh damn Harpy."  
  
"Damn right. Now get up before I resort to grotesque means and make you."  
  
"Do yer worst." Came the hard mumble.  
  
"Fine."  
  
In a quick flicking motion I had ripped the covers off him. Just as fast he was up and scrambling to cover himself.  
  
"Are yeh mad, bloody woman?! Yer damned lucky I wasn't in the nude!"  
  
"Let me know when you will be, Abbie boy," I grinned walking out, "I want to see you dressed in ten minutes, got that? Oh, and good morning."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," he grunted as I closed the door, "and a fuckin' good morning to you too."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
To give the boy some credit he was dressed in seven minutes if not faster and we were finally on our way, two others joining us for the ride. Ellie came to help with my fittings and Sergent Godley came as Abberline's second.  
  
As soon as we entered we were swamped with clerks. Stylishly dressed men and women flocked around us.  
  
"Miss Harlington!"  
  
"It's been months!"  
  
"Still wearing black?"  
  
"We must put an immediate stop to that nonsense!"  
  
"Oh yes indeed, you always looked splendid in green!"  
  
"But blue made her look perfectly angelic..........."  
  
"Are all of you biddies blind?! Her color is red, she looks absolutely breathtaking in it!"  
  
Ever been suffocated by simpering females? No? Good, that's the way it should stay. Meanwhile the men were thrumming around Abberline.  
  
"Dashed unfashionable."  
  
"Won't be by the time we're done with him though, eh?"  
  
"Let's put him in brown!"  
  
"He's going to a ball Mackland, not the office! Make it black."  
  
"With white cuffs!"  
  
"Are there any other kind?'  
  
I wondered how many of these guys were gay. The Fab Five for the old age, I fell in love with them at once. They were doing the wedding reception.  
  
"Miss Harlington.........." Adressed a lanky man, who seemed to be the ringleader of the department. He smiled, his voice like chalk, "an pleasure as always."  
  
I gave him my hand as he escorted us with the following crowd of clerks, "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice." I ventured.  
  
"Psh tosh now," the man waved a hand dismissively, as he smiled his lips pulling back from his teeth in what looked like a terrifying grin. His skin was so tightly pulled on his face that he resembled something like a grisly walking talking skeleington, "we were just about to close up shop in mourning for you. It is about time you came back to us."  
  
I just nodded as I swung a glace over my shoulder at Abberline who was shaking off the clerks hands that kept tugging at his coat.  
  
"If I am to understand correctly now," he said pausing, "you are to be the guest of Honor at your father's charity event?"  
  
I turned my head sharply to view the clerk to see if he was pulling my leg, "I am?"  
  
"Oh yes, the town is beside itself. Everyone has just been attiter with the stories of your coming back into society!"  
  
I hadn't realized I was THE guest of Honor. Damn that Farrel bastard. This meant I couldn't just drop by for a toast and scram, but now I'd actually have to stay and make nice with the nobility.  
  
"And I know just the thing for you and your little friend.........." The clerk wiggled his fingers in a slightly threatening way toward Abberline.  
  
Clapping his hands sharply Abberline and I were herded into different areas of the store. Jus imagine being shoved into one dress after another, your hair being tied one way, pinned, taken down, and put up again. And the inquiries, god, the endless inquiries.  
  
"Blue?"  
  
"Uh............"  
  
"Pearls, Miss Harlington?"  
  
"I don't.........."  
  
"Lady Victoria corset?"  
  
"I..........."  
  
"Lavender perfume from Paris?"  
  
"I really don't think..........."  
  
"One train or two?"  
  
"My, I................."  
  
"This stylish updo from Turkey, Miss Harlington?"  
  
"That's it!" I said dashing away from their prying fingers, "I've had enough."  
  
The women stopped, clutching each of the garments they had been shoving under my nose. I turned to the first woman.  
  
"Blue is too simple a color for this kind of event. I shall require something more bold. Bring me all of the gown you have in a deep shade of red." I continued turning to the next person, "Pearls are too much, like diamonds they laden down the neck, a simple black lace choker will do." I whirled on the awaiting woman next in line, "How tight is the Victoria, dear? If I cannot breathe I do not want it on me. Accent the waist and stomach not on the diaphragm nor lungs." Next, I was on a roll, "I do not wish to smell like an English garden, lord knows enough women do. Some exotic scent from a flower hot house or from the wilderness will better represent my triumphant return to society. Do think outside the box, dear. Oh and one train, please," I added glancing at the other woman, "And as for my hair." I said to the styler who held a brush dangerously like a hatchet, "it shall be styled by my own maid servant, Miss Ellie Miller."  
  
There was a moments pause as six pairs of eyes blinked back at me, then:  
  
"Perfect!"  
  
"Sheer brilliance!"  
  
"But of course, it only makes sense.........."  
  
"Cassandra Harlington, you are a genius!"  
  
All five women jogged off to get the things I had asked for, one remained behind. A tall dark haired beauty walked toward me.  
  
"Why you certainly crack a furious whip when it comes to getting what you want." Her voice was a deep luster and commanding, but very full, "I approve completely."  
  
I cocked my head at the women, "Excuse my asking but.........."  
  
"Who am I?"  
  
"Well, yes, as a matter of fact."  
  
"Rayanna Stewart, at your service, Lady Harlington." She curtsied swiftly showing no sign of actual subservience.  
  
"A pleasure." I replied warily.  
  
"The same." Oh, she was a sassy little one, this woman.  
  
We stood in silence.  
  
"Miss Harlington," One of the other girls came rushing back into the room, "frills or no?"  
  
"Go......away.......Cecy." Rayanna ordered coldly.  
  
The girl hurried away.  
  
"Absolutely not!" I called after her in response to her question. Then turning back to Rayanna I opened my mouth to voice a question of my own.  
  
"My uncle owns this shop," she cut me off, "I'm his second in command, but in all truth I actually run the business he merely works the register. The girls are under my command."  
  
I shut my mouth. Ok she was sassy and she could read minds, hey cool I wish I could do that.  
  
"I must say I am surprised at your change of opinion in fashions. Twas not a month ago but that you adored the color blue and longed to have your skin smelling of lavender."  
  
"Blue is a fine color still, and lavender a calming scent, but I feel like being reckless at the moment." I regretted it as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Young ladies being reckless after important father's death, if I wasn't careful they'd have me in a correctional school for wayward girls, like that!  
  
But if it were the wrong thing to say, Rayanna gave no notice of it. She merely smiled a hungry smile, "Of course you should. You are free at last from your father's hold. If my father were to suddenly die, I would wear my birthing suit to a ball, and nothing else." Her eyes danced wildly and I had the strangest feeling I was standing in front an authentic blooming woman of the revolution, of the dawn of the twentyith century.  
  
"It depends on the father in question, I suppose." I admitted smiling back.  
  
Rayanna's lips quirked in a bitter smile, "The father in question finds me an embarrassement and scorns me for it. I find it only fitting to reward him with the same curtesy." She paused and stiffened as if she had not meant to say even that much. Turning, she admired a new concept, "Do you know Miss Harlington, this is our first real conversation?"  
  
I wouldn't have known but I could probably guess the answer, "I do believe you're right."  
  
She paused again scrutinizing me quite frankly, "You're different."  
  
I tilted my head, "Yes," I confessed, "I am."  
  
"Good." She replied crisply, then her face broke into a truly stunning grin, "Let's find you a scent worthy of such a change." She beckoned with her hand over to a shelf lined with row after row of crystalline jars. Taking one off, she pulled the stopper and a scent like oceanus wafted out, as she held it under my nose.  
  
"How about this one?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~  
  
An hour later I was just now struggling into a gown. Cecy, the maid hand who Rayanna had sent away, had brought back with her a selection of gowns. Among them was a dress of the darkest crimson , if properly described it was the exact color of roses only the kind that are so red in fact that they appear black, like a fine red wine. The Victoria corset was far too tight and I settled on a Bilistone brand which pulled in the waist and stomach instead of the chest or bust.  
  
"It's not very fashionable," one little maid had whispered under her breath, immediately stilled by a sharp look from Rayanna.  
  
"Then we shall make it fashionable." I amended cheerfully as I was laced up. Then settling behind a screen, it took nearly three girls to dress me.  
  
"Ow's it goin' in there, Miss Harlington." Came the heavy voice from behind the screen.  
  
"Godley?! What the devil are you doing here?! Go bother Abberline!"  
  
"I can't. 'e won't talk ta me, he just keeps readin' some soddin' book."  
  
I poked my head out, "Oh really?"  
  
"The world comes ta an end when a man brushes away raunchy stories ta read. The bugger even shushed me. SHUSHED me!"  
  
"Godley, shush..........."  
  
"See, exactly wha' I'm talkin' abou'!"  
  
There was a moment of silence then came a chuckle.  
  
"What?" I inquired back behind the screen.  
  
"Those damndable clerks are prying Abberline from his seat. Be only a matter of time now before he's made into a new man. Do you think they'll put him in blue or green?" He asked lightly.  
  
"Pink, most assuredly." I answered happily.  
  
I heard Godley shudder in mock horror beyond the thin curtain lace of the screen.  
  
"Well, I'm off ta help the poor boy, can't let him suffer in a pink waist coat all alone."  
  
"I'll be out in a minute," I called out to him, wincing as the back was tightened.  
  
"That's what you said two hours ago." Rayanna smirked, glancing through more perfume jars.  
  
I shot a glance at her, "Quiet, you." She put a hand to her mouth as she chuckled.  
  
As it was I still had a while to go. I dreaded having to do all this yet again tomorrow, but once everything was applied it seemed worth it standing in front of a gilded mirror, seeing my reflection. Everyone has an image of the inner self and how we truly look, and my reflection put that person before me. My mouth dropped rather stupidly in my shock. Rayanna came up beside me.  
  
"Yes, I think that just about does it. Now don't gape like some fish, dear. The men are probably done with your friend by now, why don't you give him a little look, hmn?"  
  
I looked at her fearfully as she pushed me toward the other room, I tried to stall her, "He won't notice........" I began weakly.  
  
"Nonsense, and if he doesn't I shall have to deduce that his tastes run to other persons not of the female anatomy. Now go."  
  
With one final push I was in the other room. Godley was the first to notice me as Abberline was still being fussed at by the clerks in front of the three grand mirrors.  
  
"Well I'll be damned!" He exclaimed coming forward, "Now I know what took so bloody long. Ya look spectacular Miss Harlington. Why if I were younger we should elope at the soonest possible momen'"  
  
The comment was so sweet, and I had never in my life been complimented like that, that I wrapped him in a tight hug.  
  
"Thank you, Godley."  
  
"Nofin' to be thanked for," he grunted uncomfortable, "Not so tight love, you'll wrinkle the dress and I'm fast loosing all the air in my lungs."  
  
"Sorry." I chuckled, pulling back smoothing out his coat where I had seemingly scrunched too tight.  
  
He merely patted my hand kindly and turning back sharply he called over his shoulder, 'Oy, Fred man, come an' see our Miss Harlington!"  
  
Abberline had to force his way through the tightly knit circle of clerks. Let's face it the mans a god when he's all roughed up like he just had a major tumble, but seeing him in a tux it was all I could do not to falter under his inspective gaze. The man was just too damn beautiful.  
  
"Well, well, well, don't you look spiffy." I managed to murmur.  
  
Well it was no secret what he obviously thought of me. As soon as his eyes took me in, it was as if he had emerged from the men expecting to see one thing and something completely different, and whatever it was that I had become in the past few hours, he did not like it. A frown pulled at the corner of his mouth as the clerks around him gasped and brightened.  
  
"Oh she's perfectly lovely.........."  
  
"A vision............"  
  
"If only I weren't married........."  
  
"........or dedicated to fashion............."  
  
"Well, come one Freddie Boy," They prodded him, "Doesn't she just look ravishing?!"  
  
I was quite sure Freddie Boy was glaring at me, he shrugged his shoulders, "She's alrigh'"  
  
There was a pause of silence as if a jug of ice cold water had been thrown in everyone's face.  
  
"Dear boy, do you have your eyes closed?"  
  
"The man's obviously blind............" One clerk muttered.  
  
"..........or needs a strong pair of glasses........." another clucked.  
  
"Not a bit right in the head, is he?" one whispered.  
  
The others shook their heads in agreement.  
  
What on earth was his problem? Truth be told I felt sexy for one of the very first times in my life in this get up (sickening I know) but hey, everyone's allowed to feel that way at least once, right?! Hell, I was damn hot in this dress and if couldn't see that then well.............Rayanna was right. He was not interested in women. I wondered faintly if that were the case if he had enjoyed the clerks groping of his person during his fitting.  
  
Approaching, I looked him over disdainfully, seeking to hurt as I had been.  
  
"I supposed you'll do as well. It was too much of me to hope for you to clean up nice, but it'll have to do for the time being. Pack up the suit and any other effects you feel necessary he need not to embarrass me. We will be paying in an hour."  
  
I could hear the ominous grinding of Abberline's teeth. I went to sweep from the room to have Godley catch my arm, "Don't worry lass, 'e's been annoyed ever since the damned fittin' took him away from his book, been sulkin' all afternoon. I'll talk to 'im, but for once the lads," he said gesturing to the clerks, "are right. You look amazin'." He glanced back at Abberline who seemed to positively shake with some controlled emotion equal to that of rage, "I'll talk ta him, but don't yeh doubt you look beautiful."  
  
His words restored some of my confidence, "Thank you, Godley."  
  
Turning I returned to my dressing room.  
  
"Well?" Rayanna asked.  
  
"He is without a doubt..........fancying gentlemanly company."  
  
Rayanna clicked her tongue, "Such a shameful waste."  
  
I gave a half way smile and began to take off the layers of things I had on.  
  
"Oh, I found your scent."  
  
I looked up not really that interested anymore in playing dress up. Abberline's words seemed to strip away any excitement I had felt about it before, "Oh?"  
  
"Yes," she handed me a small brown box, "it is a rare fig scent plucked from this odd farm in the country."  
  
"What makes it so rare?" I questioned turning the box over in my hands.  
  
"To put it simply the outrageous rumor is that the farm is grown by witch, and her figs are widely known for being quite worth whatever price it goes for." She chuckled, "Complete poppycock of course, but I thought this called for desperate measures."  
  
"Hmnn..........." I began to open the box but Rayanna's hand stilled me.  
  
"I would advise you not to open or wear it before tomorrow night."  
  
I looked at her shocked, "Whatever do you mean?"  
  
"Let us just say," she said slyly a twinkle sharpening her eyes, "it has quite an effect. If that doesn't shock your friend out of his stupor then nothing will and he is beyond our aid."  
  
I wrapped my fingers tightly about the box, "Thank you, Rayanna."  
  
She nodded her head in content acceptance. "You're welcome, just invite me to the wedding."  
  
Whoa.........hold up, double take! What the frock?!  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I told you it has a dizzying effect. By tomorrow night he'll be on his knees proposing with a ring he can not afford."  
  
Ok, we're good. For a second there I thought she really was phsycic again. Call me now for yer free readin'!  
  
"We'll see." I said skeptically, shrugging off the remainder of the dress.  
  
"We won't, but you, my unbelieving and unsuspecting friend, will." Taking the box from me she placed it in a brown paper bag.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~~~  
  
Ok I lied, The BALL isn't coming next chapter, I had no idea I had written this much and there is more to come, namely finding out what is up in Abberline's ass about me now! So one more chapter and then, the ball, the rest of our dear reviewers who sent in tons of reviews just to be the bitch. One I shall say, "Yore hired, and then yore fired." And we meet the new and close to becoming a new leading man, who might just make me forget Abby completely. That is if A will stop flirting with the clerks in time. Review people, it'll just make me work faster. Oh by the way went to Cali and saw the Viper Room, I know you all just wish you were me! 


	13. It's STUCK!

Disclaimer: Hey yall! I know you've been waiting so's I'll cut to the cheese! Hehe, omg Vicki had a major cheese fetish today. The ball's in the next chappie and we meet what I like to call the Dark Evils (three bad bitches) the winner of the contest comes up next chapter! And the mystery man, doo de doo, I just love watchin ya squirm. Onwards and enjoy!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"We're goin' ta need a whole 'nother carriage for all of this junk." Godley said tapping one of Abberline's parcels with his foot.  
  
"Careful, Godley," I warned, "I did not just sell my house to have you trample those clothes."  
  
"Beggin' yer pardon, Miss Harlington." He grunted.  
  
Abberline stood under a street lamp which shown on him with a hazy half light. It had taken the whole day to be fitted, and it was now almost twilight.  
  
I touched Godley's arm, "If you will take these with you," I gestured to the many boxes at our feet, "we will get another carriage, I think."  
  
"Very good, Miss Harlington." He agreed, signaling for another cabby.  
  
"........and," I continued in a whisper, "if you wouldn't mind sharing with Ellie, I would like to have a few words with Abberline."  
  
Godley's eyebrows rose.  
  
"Don't worry. I'm not going to break him in half, I just want to speak with him."  
  
"Why do I 'ave an odd feeling it will turn into a yellin' match like yowlin' cats gone mad. I'm not so sure yeh be wantin' ta have another row with 'im."  
  
"Don't be such a worry wort, Sergent, besides you know you want to share an ill lit carriage ride with Miss Miller." I said slyly inclining my head to Ellie's form but a few feet away.  
  
Godley's eyes snapped to mine.  
  
"Oh come now, you didn't think I could miss those goo-goo glances you've been sending her way, did you? Come on, seize the day."  
  
With an encouraging push he was over next to Ellie and helping her in carrying all of the bags.  
  
"Abberline," I called folding my arms over my chest, "are you planning on staying there all night?"  
  
Without a word he joined me in our carriage, slamming the door. We began our ride back home.  
  
"Alright. Spit it out. What's wrong?" I asked cutting to the chase.  
  
He threw me a hard look and then continued to look out the window.  
  
"You're not even going to talk to me, are you?" I asked him sharply.  
  
All I got in return was gripping silence.  
  
"Well you're going to have to." I told him harshly, I grabbed his chin forcing his head up, "Look at me." His eyes settled on mine with such a look of hate and coldness I instinctively pulled back afraid, "What is it?"  
  
Another long hard look and he turned back to the window.  
  
"Fine!" I snapped, "Be the toddler of this situation! Well two can play at the immature silent treatment. You're going down!"  
  
I spun angrily away, huffing at the window, watching my hot and furious breath mist across the surface of the glass. We were nearly to the house when Abberline sighed and lost the game.  
  
"I don't like tha' dress."  
  
My head snapped so fast I was reeling with the pain in my neck, "What?"  
  
"I don't like tha' dress yeh bought today."  
  
I stared at him for one moment in complete and utter shock, and then I threw my head back and roared with laughter.  
  
"Let me get this straight!" I snorkled ( a funny thing I do sometimes when laughing) "You have been acting like a pouty little kid all day just 'cause you don't like the color of my gown?! And I thought women were the only ones who got PMS!" I snorted a bit, "Men."  
  
"You're not goin' ta wear it."  
  
"WHAAA-HAAAAT?!" I exclaimed, widening my eyes, not sure if I had heard him correctly.  
  
"Yeh heard me, Sarah."  
  
That got my attention. He had used my real name. My laughter died.  
  
"I'm not." I repeated.  
  
"No, yeh not."  
  
I stared at him a while more, "You're not really serious are you?"  
  
There was that glare again.  
  
"Oh my god, you are."  
  
Now the glare was aimed at the window again.  
  
"Well let me tell you something, tiger, you're just gonna have to deal with it, because I ain't taking it back. We spent nine hours at that damn shopt to find that dress and I'm not going to not wear it just because you want to get all paternal on me NOW. Besides," I added tensely, "I happen to like it."  
  
"Did ye not hear me?!" He shouted suddenly, pounding his hand on the seat.  
  
"Yes, damnit, I heard you!" I shouted back.  
  
"Yeh will not wear it, is tha' understood?!" He commanded.  
  
"It's understood," I ground out through my teeth, "but it shall not be heeded." And with that I popped open the door to get out.  
  
Abberline's arm wrapped around my waist, slamming me back into the seat.  
  
"We are not finished here!" He threatened.  
  
"Oh yes we are, DAD!" I yanked myself out of his grasp, nearly falling down the stairs of the carriage, scrambling out to find Ellie and Godley waiting on the other side. I hurried past them.  
  
"Ellie if you would bring all these to our rooms. Thank you."  
  
I ran for the door up the walk way with Abberline close behind me. Faintly I heard Godley mutter, "I knew it. Like mad cats."  
  
Throwing open the door I sped into the hall only thinking to make it to the safety of my room. I did make it but a second later there was a furious pounding on my door.  
  
"Go blow it out your hole!" I hissed at the door, checking again to see that it was locked.  
  
"Open the door."  
  
"No, you possessive, domineering, pig-freak!"  
  
"Open the door!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Damnit, Sarah! Open this door now before I break it open!"  
  
"Knock yourself out!" I shot back, turning my back to the door. I heard the sound of a lock being picked. Damnit, after the bathroom incident I should have confiscated all objects that could have been used for breaking and entering. The knob turned.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" I cried springing toward the door throwing all my weight against it.  
  
With a grunt the door was forced open, sending me sprawling against the wooden posts of my bed and Abberline strode in as if he own the place, toward me.  
  
"Get out!" I shouted, "Or I'll........." I picked up a china teapot from that morning, "go psycho-Scarlet O' Hara-on-your-ass and throw this at your head!" It was a hollow threat but as it was in all truth I was getting really scared, because he was still walking toward me with that look of rage in his eyes.  
  
"Get out!" I shrilled, the jug shaking in my hand.  
  
He was at me before I could stop him, taking the jug from me and slamming it on the table, his hands then gripping my shoulders harshly, the fingers bruising my arms.  
  
"Not until yeh say yeh will not wear tha' dress." He growled the warning of a wild dog about to attack.  
  
"Never gonna freaking happen!" I spat.  
  
"I will not have yeh wearin' tha' disgustin' bit of finery! I will not!" He shouted, shaking me like a rag doll. If I had been one of my button eyes would have come undone with the force.  
  
I instantly stilled bracing my stability on him, stilling him as well. He was breathing furiously through his nose, his chest heaving with the will to try and control each breath. "Why are you so afraid of a dress, Abberline?" He blinked. Pulled back dropping his hands from my arms, "Who says I am."  
  
"Well, me.........and that odd ritualistic caveman routine, 'me-Tarzan-you- Jane-do-as-I-say-BULLshit display that just went on. What is up with you? You've been a bit spastic ever since the clerks came onto you in the shop."  
  
Glaring at me he refused to answer me, spun strangely like Jack Sparrow on his heel and marched toward the door, throwing a sentence back over his shoulder, "Get another dress."  
  
I ran to the door, slamming it closed with my body.  
  
"Move." He commanded tightly through clenched teeth.  
  
"You started this hell ride, now you finish it." I ordered sternly.  
  
Striking lightening fast he made to grab for the door handle but alas too late for I had just locked it again. I now had the key in my hand, an only too easy position for him to get at.  
  
Now I couldn't very well throw it at him, put it back in the door or chuck it in the fire because let's face it if I need a quick exit which the thought I might need soon I would have to have it handy. So I did the only thing I could think of in a blind state of panic. I stuck it down my bodice.  
  
Cringe.  
  
I know. Stupid they name is Sarah.  
  
Abberline's eyes darkened, clouded over with a thick black smoke. I bit back a squeak of fright as he gripped my hips and rammed me the few remaining inches into the door.  
  
"Give me the key." He no more than growled, his eyes seeming now overly bright despite the heavy darkness that swept the iris's of his eyes, boring into the back of my throat like burning black coals.  
  
I gulped but kept my chin high, "Get it..........yourself."  
  
Mother-frocker, what possessed me to say something like that?!  
  
Well my feminine-pissed-off powers worked better than I had origionally planned, because instead of taking me up on that her spun away with a cry of frustration.  
  
I raised my arms in helpless exasperation flopping them ruthlessly to my sides, "Just tell me why you're wiggin' out over some stupid dress."  
  
He angrily gabbed the pitcher I had threatened to break his nose with and for one second he would carry out the threat himself but he only took as small flask out from his coat and poured himself a drink and downed it.  
  
"No? Fine, I'll just have to guess." I crossed my hands over my chest, "You're mad because it matches the color of YOUR tux?" He ignored me, "That not it? Well then, you're desperately afraid that other guys will come on to me in that flattering display and you're just the tinsibit jealous." Oh I WISH.  
  
Abberline snorted in harsh disdain as he poured himself another glass, "Hardly." He sneered.  
  
I sighed, "Well the only other reason I can think of is that you think by putting on this dress I'm somehow gonna magically 'turn into'" I used the Doctor Evil quotes, "one of those stuck up pansy-peacocks of society. Which is completely and utterly ridic.........."  
  
Abberline's glass made it to his lips a third time but then was lowered slowly.  
  
"Oh god, Abberline!" I expelled a surprised gust of air from my tense lungs, "Is that what you really think?!"  
  
His hands idly played around the edge of his glass. He sighed. I marched over to him, turning him to face me, "Listen up, you silly ass." I said kindly, "you know me......more or less and after a month stuck in this house with me you should know that's not who I am. That's not who I'll ever be, I'm not like that. I'm not going to change, not for balls, or nobles, the queen or even you. You got that? That gown won't do anything. It's just gonna be plain ol' crazy me in a pretty dress. That's all."  
  
Abberline glanced at me doubtfully.  
  
"On my honor as a human oddity and a pain in the ass bitch," I swore to him, "I have every intention of making faces behind backs and slipping ice down dresses at this thing we have to go to."  
  
Abberline chuckled, a sort of loud bark, as if he hadn't meant any sound to come out at all.  
  
I smiled, "And yes, I'll even let you set fire to Doctor Farrel if you want to badly enough."  
  
The cloud in his features lifted considerably at that thought.  
  
"Alright? Is all that behind us now?" I asked.  
  
Abberline nodded rather sheepishly for someone who had just nailed me to a door. Rawwr!  
  
"Good. Oh and if you ever pull that male dominance-macho man thing on me again, I'll beat the living shit out of you, ok? Super."  
  
I walked him over to the door, "Now get out. I wanna get some sleep if that's alright with you, or would you like to insult the rest of my closet, you big strong man you?"  
  
"Oh ha ha, ho ho.........." He laughed sarcastically.  
  
"Yes, you're a ho, now git!" I pushed him to the door.  
  
"Ahem." He coughed, outstretching his hand, "the key."  
  
"Wha..........OH right! Well don't' just stand there, turn around you're not getting a free show."  
  
Abberline obeyed, his shaking form making it clear what he thought of the whole situation.  
  
"Oh Blast The Mighty Clans of the SHIITE!"  
  
"Wha'?"  
  
"It's stuck!"  
  
"Wha'?!"  
  
Actually it was more like, "Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-ha-t?!"  
  
"You heard me! It's stuck down there! Goddamnit, why do they make these things so tight!?"  
  
Abberline was still laughing only more so.  
  
"Oh grow up!" I cried, "Call for Ellie."  
  
A second later we heard Ellie's voice beyond the door. "Miss? Miss, are ye alrigh'?"  
  
"Ellie could you please get Mr. Cox and have him break down the door?"  
  
"Why?" She exclaimed startled, "Wha's 'appened?!"  
  
"Don't ask." I shot a glance at Abberline who yes was still laughing. Oh yes let's point fingers and make fun of the clueless girl from another century, that's how we spend all our Friday nights these days. "Good lord, don't even THINK of asking."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~  
  
Hey people, I need a wave a reviewers to rain hailstone reviews on Pirates Hilariousity and get my partner in crime to get up off her bum and update the sea barnacle! Of course you don't have to but I'm hoping yall can get her to get cracking so's I can get to the Totuga part of the story. I hope all ye like, there shall be a number of winners, three baddies, one goodie, and there might be a few walk ons for some characters in the contest. I had a lot of fun doing this, and am at the moment writing the next chapter so don't ye fret. 


	14. The Triplets of Doom and a Wilde Fan

Disclaimer: Yeah I know it's been a whole week. This is the contest chapter all those characters that have been chosen are in it. The Ball is garenteed to last for a few more chapters with many surprises ahead. Thank you all for your character ideas, I hope you have fun reading this. Well here it goes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
As it was the door didn't have to be knocked down. Ellie, handy as ever, had a key of her own and freed us from the room.  
  
I slept most of the following day, waking around one in the afternoon to have a quick bite to eat and spot of tea, a full bath with hairwashing might I add, then the tortuous process of the previous began again.  
  
Pushed, primped, and pulled, six hours later I could barely walk. Once again my hair was in a simple bun with long strands pouring from it to brush gently down my back.  
  
The perfume was applied to my wrists before they were covered with gloves and behind my ears. The tiniest wiff of it hit me and I was immediately reminded of my room at home, filled with the smell of many candles. There were touch ups of course not that I was really all there. I just wanted it to all be over and done with.  
  
I joined Abberline in the hallway. He glanced and then glanced again, doing one of the quickest double takes I have ever seen. Coming forward he joked, "Nice dress."  
  
"Liar." I smiled.  
  
He had my black velvet cape in his hands, and throwing it around my shoulders he brought me close as he tied it. As he did I peered about the room. I felt like I would throw up. Society, dancing, bitchy women and lecherous men.......why exactly was I going again?  
  
Abberline finished tying the knot and stepped back to view his handy work.  
  
Oh yeah........that was why.  
  
"Alrigh'" he sighed, "this is the last chance we'll have ta back out before it's too late. Do we 'afta go?"  
  
I straightened my gloves, "Yes, unfortunately we do. The only way we can get out of this would be if some gangsters came and shot up the place, then we could sneak out the back."  
  
"I know some guys in the station who I could 'accidently' let out...."  
  
My head shot up.  
  
"If yeh really want to." He hastened to assure me.  
  
"I hardly think it should have to come to that Abberline," I snickered, "But keep them handy just in case the whole thing blows. Come on, lets get this over with." I said taking his arm and pulling him out the door, coming face to face with a very spruced up Dr. Farrel.  
  
"Whoa....ho! Oh, hello Doctor." I scrambled to cover my surprise, "I thought you would be at the charity by now. We were just hurrying along to join you."  
  
Farrel flinched a smile, "I fear you forget that I am to have the honor of escorting you to the event."  
  
"Why so you are." Damn. "Well then we must be going at once before we are anymore fashionably late than we already are. Come along."  
  
Opening the door of the carriage for me, he helped me in. Ha ha, gloves foil skin on skin contact!  
  
"Shouldn't we call a cabbie for your little........pet, my dear?"  
  
I stopped, "Oh no, he must ride with me. The lad needs to be on a very short leash. If he were not he would surely run amok."  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
Abberline was ushered in taking his place next to me. Getting in himself, the Doctor shot me a suspicious glance at my lack of dignity in sitting next to a street bum.  
  
The carriage lurched and we were off to a ball that no one really wanted to go to.  
  
Farrel coughed, "Well, your little cause seems to have rid himself of his tarnish. I congratulate you, my dear. I thought it myself, near impossible."  
  
Abberline grunted in response.  
  
"Charming." Farrel dryly intoned to me.  
  
"A work in progress, I assure you." I said calmly, "Why in a month from now he shall be even more respectable than you, perhaps."  
  
I made sure my voice carried the cheerful threat.  
  
The doctor only smiled, and I pulled my cape closet as a slight chill crept up my back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~  
  
The rest of the ride was conducted in silence. And on an hour filled with only silence is nerve wracking. I was sorely tempted to start up a game of twenty questions or I Spy.  
  
The Charity was being held in the near country and about a mile away from our destination the darkness began to be speckled with illustrated paper lanterns every thirty six feet apart.  
  
"Beautiful." I murmured, glancing out the door.  
  
"Your father would have thought so too." Farrel said quietly.  
  
The dear doctor had said something without being cruel. Wonders never cease and I suppose pigs really do fly.  
  
And then we were upon the house, though honestly it could have wrapped around twenty houses.  
  
"Goodness........." I leaned further out the window.  
  
Even from this distance I could make out the soft strains of music coming from the stone giant of a house.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~  
  
Farrel got out first, then helping me out he nearly locked Abberline in the carriage.  
  
"Oh, so sorry old boy. You must try to keep up with us." Smiling disgustingly he offered me an arm.  
  
"Come along there now, Abberline. Do pick up your feet." I said gesturing for him to join me at me side. Farrel lowered his arm, as Abberline stepped up beside me taking an arm for himself.  
  
I threw a painfully patient glance at Farrel, "A short leash, Doctor. I cannot have him out of my sight. He should be in trouble in less than half a minute."  
  
"Indeed." Farrel bit out, "I shall announce us then. Follow me please." Striding ahead he left me and Abberline lagging behind.  
  
My gaze flittered upon the stone arches, magnificent windows, and the light shining from within. I hesitated.  
  
"One foot in front of the other. Tha's it. Like a Wedding March." Abberline said trying to comfort me as we walked up to the massive doorway.  
  
"No, like a Funeral March. They're playing Taps."  
  
"If tha's so you'll dance ta your grave. Come on now." And saying this we passed under the arc.  
  
Farrel of course was waiting on the other side.  
  
"There's a bit of a walk to get to the room, my dear," if he said that one more time I was punching his lights out, "but I think you should enjoy it.  
  
It was an interesting walk. Four rooms of different colors. The first was a brown room, showcasing hunting fear, and firearms. Next was a green room, a library filled with books from east to west, a fireplace crackled in one end and several comfortable chairs sat nearby, waiting for someone to pick up a book, sit in it's lap and spend eternity in the room. Then a blue room, a baby grand or something of its like stood in the corner by a large full length window, a harp, my fingers began to itch at the thought of playing it. I thought I saw a guitar, but whether I was just losing it or not we swept on.  
  
Now we were in a hall, lavished with thick red velvet curtains, and the music was growing steadily louder, and so was the sinking feeling in my stomach. We were stopped before a pair of deep mahagony wood doors where from out of nowhere, men removed my cape. They also shed Farrel of his over coat and top hot, melting back into the air they had sprung from, and only the rustle of the curtains belayed that their presence had ever been.  
  
Farrel turned and catching sight of me so uncovered as it was, it seemed he felt the need to let his eyes wander.  
  
Keep it up and you'll end up in traction in your own hospital, Doctor.  
  
"My........" He stepped closer. I clutched nearer to Abberline. Another step and I set my PET on you. He took a step closer, "Remarkable."  
  
Sic 'im Abbers, Sic 'im!  
  
"Well, shall we?" he asked and opened the door. The music twined around us and pulled us in.  
  
I gasped softly, overwhelmed at the room in front of us. Red curtains, and gold border. The floor was a kalidescope of colors on a polished marble floor. A mosaic. And the music of the waltz echoed off the walls played by nearly a full orchestra in the corner. In the center couples of yellows, blues, greens, and reds, violets and pinks spun in a frenzy. I tried to watch them but could not follow their movements, growing dizzy in a short amount of time. As of that moment I had not seen anything quite as terrifying as that sight.  
  
"Abberline......" My voice shook.  
  
"Doctor Farrel." A loud voice announced to the crowd, "Lady Harlington."  
  
The happy cry was torn from many throats and all but drowned out the last call of "and Guest."  
  
"Go in front of me." I hissed desperately in Abberline's ear.  
  
"Not on your life. I'm not a bloody shield, woman."  
  
"Cassandra, everyone is eager to speak you. We mustn't keep them waiting." And before I could even murmur a protest Farrel had ahold of my arm and was leading me straight into the throng of hungry lords and ladies.  
  
"Abberline!" I cried, "Heel!."  
  
Biting his lip, he followed at my back lending a small amount of comfort to my current situation.  
  
Conversation was quite limited with Farrel taking the words from my mouth and speaking for me. I bet people were thinking, ' since when did Miss Harlington become a mute?' On one hand it was a welcomed relief but on the other hand I was mad as hell. I was figuring to say something about monthly period releases just to embarrass him when Abberline intervened and asked if I wanted a drink. With a grateful look I nodded. Hey if I was lucky I could get drunk and they would have to throw me out.  
  
Just as he had left me at my most vunerable a cry range out in front of me.  
  
"Cassandra!" The hint of an exotic accent caught my ear.  
  
Turning surprised I was just in time to see a young woman of my own age of an olive complexion with luxurious black tresses piled atop her head rush at me before I was embraced firmly.  
  
"Oh it has been simply ages!"  
  
Pulling back slightly unnerved, I took a closer look at the woman in front of me and immediately disliked her if only for the fact that she was drop dead – Catherine-Zeta Jones-ain't-got-nothin-on-me- gorgeous. She had a certain feline nature to her features, her eyes were black like obsidian and glimmered faintly of malice. Of course she blinked and no such expression could be found as her dark red lips spread in a beguiling smile.  
  
"I don't expect you to remember me. We were only little girls when we met." The girl sweetly said through her thick accent, taking my hand in hers.  
  
No wonder I don't remember you.  
  
"It's Olivia, Cass. Olivia Hernandez."  
  
"I'll leave you to your reunions, my dear." Farrel said bowing out. I checked my impulse to give him a black eye.  
  
Instead I nodded to the Olivia, "Of course.......excuse me."  
  
"Oh don't be silly." She smiled charmingly, "You've had a tragedy."  
  
"Yes."  
  
This was a tragedy. Boy was it ever.  
  
"Papa's in town doing business as per usual. Oh, but he was so saddened by your father's passing, as were we all."  
  
"Please........"  
  
"Ah, yes, forgive me. Bringing up such a subject at such a time. But why don't you look just lovely." She said in a thick purr, fingering a ringlet of my hair and the soft material of my gown near where it cut off at my shoulder.  
  
"The same could be said of you." I answered politely.  
  
Looking down at her own gown a sly smile rose once again on those mocking lips. I felt like crawling into my skin. I knew, though there had been nothing but the flash of her terrible eyes to make me think such things, that she was as fake as her smile. She was the kind of girl in middle school I had feared, had made myself small to avoid their superior glares and cutting retorts.  
  
"Do you like it?" I was snapped back as she whispered of her dress, a full gown of black lace.  
  
"Very much."  
  
"Harlington!"  
  
I craned my neck to see two other dark haired girls, clasping hands heading for our direction.  
  
"Harlington!" The call rang out again from the black haired slender whisp of a woman with intent green eyes, "You naughty girl!"  
  
"Wicked indeed!" The other with honeyed brown hair laughed, her smile blinding me even from where I stood.  
  
I was knocked over by the force of their combined hugs.  
  
"Oh it has been beastly dull without your company!" The first sighed.  
  
I could only gape at the two of them.  
  
"Well DO say something, Cass! We've not seen you for over a month and your keeping us in such suspense!" The other pleaded.  
  
"Angelina Winters." Olivia said addressing the black haired girl, "Damara Braden." To the brunette, "You do happen to remember them, do you not?"  
  
"How could I forget?" I murmured softly. Goddamnit! Since when did I discover the fountain of youth and become thirteen again?! Why was I practically cowering before these girls.  
  
"Easily it seems." Olivia smirked pleasantly.  
  
"Forgive me," I said sharply, "I suppose the death of my only father is not reason enough to be out of wits."  
  
Olivia's smile dropped for the barest of seconds, and the anger in her eyes flared up. Just as quickly the mask was firmly in place although I noticed her hand at her side began to pick under her nails as if she wanted to pick out my eyes instead, but the smile was back and so was the unbearable sweetness of her tone.  
  
"Don't be a goose, Cass. I was only teasing."  
  
I smiled then, not one of reassurance or forgiveness but one that plainly said, 'I've heard your shtick before lady and I ain't buying the crap your sellin."  
  
"Now tell us dear, we hear you have a male captive in your estate." The Angelina girl whispered cunningly. "Tell us every little blasphemous......."  
  
"Lina! You horrible girl!" Damara exclaimed.  
  
"Well come one tell us. Are we your confidants or not?"  
  
"You aren't. You'll be whispering every black thought into someone's ear in greased pig minute."  
  
"Speaking of which you know that Madeline girl? She came home late last night in a shape to shock a priest! Dress torn and all the like!"  
  
"No!'  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Oh god kill me now. Come on Abberline where are you with my damn drink? I'm gonna drown myself in it.  
  
"Was she robbed?"  
  
"Oh no.......she was having at it with some stable hand!"  
  
Damara covered her perfect heart mouth with a pale peach hand.  
  
"Only one?" Olivia asked her tone heavy with disapproval and dangerous undertones.  
  
The girls laughed, a sound that for all it's loveliness, grated against my ears like nails on a black board.  
  
A soft touch on my hand, turning I found a glass of yellow buttercup wine next to me, Abberline's hand guiding it to my own.  
  
"Thank you." I sighed. Pulling closer to him I whispered, "You have no idea how much I needed that."  
  
He snorted softly in a chuckle. I returned my gaze to the women in front of me, all of which had gone quiet at Abberline's enterance.  
  
Jesus..........In one back tip of my head I had downed the fragile glass of it's contents.  
  
"Another?" Abberline asked, taking the empty glass from my hand with a raised brow.  
  
"Yes, PLEASE."  
  
"Why Cassandra Harlington, I've never known you to be so rude." Damara reproved, "Introduce us to your friend before you forget your manners again."  
  
Without my knowledge I had unconsciously stepped in front of Abberline as if I were a body guard. Stepping aside I gave them his name.  
  
He nodded his head gently at each lady until Olivia who offered her hand. Rolling my eyes, I tried to miss the barest kiss he laid on her hand, as well as the small smug lift of her lips and the crafty gleam in her eye as he did so.  
  
I suddenly wished for a clear place where I could smash my glass to the floor, stomp my foot and whine like a child. Anything to stop this sickening display.  
  
"So you're the Harlington prisoner?" Olivia ventured in interest of mind and body as she pressed in closer.  
  
Strangely enough, Abberline stepped away, wrapping an arm about my waist. I nearly bit my tongue in surprise and dropped my glass. All I could manage to do was to smile weakly as Olivia's eyes narrowed as the movement was not lost on her.  
  
"She has been treating you well, it would seem." She remarked.  
  
"Quite well. She hardly ever has ta use the whip." He nodded smiling.  
  
Angelina whispered something in Damara's ear, earning a smothered giggle behind a hard smile.  
  
Olivia's naturally arched brow rose, "The whip? Indeed!" Sending a glance at me as if to say ' you dared to try to hide him from me?!' she continued, "I supposed the Rack is used more often?"  
  
"If the Wheel isn't working, yes."  
  
Olivia threw her head back and laughed wickedly delighted.  
  
I wished I had a wheel so I could end my suffering.  
  
"My, what a marvelously sharp tongue you have, inspector."  
  
Abberline shrugged his shoulders as if it were but a trifle, "It comes in handy for a good thrashin'."  
  
More like the better to lick your ass with my sweet, I thought. The man had obviously good acting or really bad kiss up skills.  
  
In all my years, even the two I had earned in my little timetravel escapade, I had never seen such blatant flirting techniques. I felt sick. Just who exactly did he have his arm around? I began to doubt it was me.  
  
Shrugging out of his hold I turned, "Abberline, I'm not feeling too well."  
  
"What a shame." Olivia said clucking her tongue in what seemed like practiced concern and compassion, "because I do believe I hear the beginnings of a waltz." She held out a hand invitingly, beckoning to the man at my side, "Inspector, if you would be so kind?"  
  
A passing manservant with a tray of glasses swept by and swiping a glass I exchanged it for my long since empty one, throwing it back.  
  
I suppose the second helping of liquid ignorance helped to dull the shock that slugged my stomach when Abberline took her and without even a backwards glance at me.  
  
Damara and Angelina were whispering again, making me think I was lost in a darkened forest among dead and whispering trees instead of in a bright ballroom, standing among dozens upon bakers dozens of well dressed people.  
  
"Don't fret, Cass, sweet." Olivia called back over her shoulder, "I'm just keeping him warm for you."  
  
I stood stock still trying to understand what had happened. Damara and Angelina still stayed by my side. Behind their delicate hands, soft whispers and candid gaze they alarmingly resembled the dastardly Siamese Twins in Lady and The Tramp. I turned on my heel and left them to their gossip and left Olivia to sink her claws into my escort.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~  
  
I made my way back through the other rooms, after slipping quietly out of the ball room, until I made it to the library I had taken note of before. A place I belonged and was welcomed. I opened the door.  
  
"Come another step into the room and you shall receive the tail end of one of the Bronte's right between the eyes."  
  
I just cant' win today.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A young girl, younger than I appeared to be at any rate sat in a sette. She had her nose buried in a book and had spoken seemingly without looking up. I stood frozen in the doorway, my hand still on the knob.  
  
"Do I need to make myself any more clear by throwing a Wilde as a warning?"  
  
I cleared my throat, "Not at all. I was only curious as to which Bronte you were referring: Charlotte or Emily?"  
  
The girl continued to read.  
  
"Both if need be." The girl looked up, "Oh..........it's you."  
  
I wasn't sure if that was a 'oh it's you, sorry I threatened you' or a 'oh it's you I think I'll carry out my threat now. I'll give you to the count of ten. One, two, ten. Keep the change ya filthy animal!'  
  
"I thought perhaps you were one of the others."  
  
"Others?"  
  
"The Triplets of Doom. Spawn of Satan.........those three girls you're so often seen with."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I'm speaking of Her Highness, Hernandez and her two little terriers."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"And you're not insulted? My, death DOES bring about change."  
  
"Why should I be insulted?"  
  
The girl lowered her book to her lap, peering at me with slightly dark hazel eyes,a strand of wavy brown hair fell from her stylish braid. "I was under the impression that they were friends of yours."  
  
"Am I a friend of yours?" I ventured.  
  
The girl shrugged, "We have spoken on occasions but never more than a few words."  
  
I walked in shutting the door quietly, when I turned back she was reading again. I stood awkwardly in the center of the room.  
  
"Do you mind if I hide out in here with you?" I asked finally.  
  
She looked up again a bit perplexed as if wondering why I had not left yet.  
  
"If you wish." She said shortly, then as an afterthought asked, "Exactly who do you desire to hide from at your own party?"  
  
"Everyone."  
  
She looked at me oddly.  
  
"To be specific, the Daughters of Death."  
  
The girls brow rose.  
  
"The three girls I'm so often seen with." I clarified.  
  
The tentative beginnings of a timid smile crept up the girls lips, "Well there's plenty of room inhere for that." She patted the space next to her.  
  
I plopped down, resting my head on the back of the seat, "What a nightmare."  
  
"One would think you didn't want to be at this event hosted in your honor."  
  
"I don't." I moaned.  
  
"We are more alike than I had given note of then. I usually feign a terrible life threatening illness to get out of these horrid things, but I'm afraid I've run out of ideas lately. Father practically had to kidnap me to get me in the carriage. Thank god this place has a library, most of the other balls don't."  
  
I sat up a bit, "Were you really prepared to damage and Oscar Wilde just to drive me from the room?"  
  
"Of course not. I would have used an Atlas of the Olde World."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"It would be heavier and would do more damage than a Wilde. Also, I'm rather fond of his works."  
  
I laughed, "I'm Cassandra."  
  
"Julianne Hunting."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*  
  
I hope this satisfies you for a bit. Next chap we meet our special guest character who might just make Abberline lose it. My what a shocker, A getting his knickers in a twist! Thanks for all the response. Guess what, Pirates Hil is almost finished being written! I'm so hyped, we started that fic a year ago! Enjoy, I'll review as soon as I'm finished writing the next chappie! 


	15. Private Conversations and what the F!

Disclaimer: I am crazy and don't you know it! Muhahahaaaa! Well my pretties, are you anxious to see what is going to happen next? I must confess to you that these chapters might go a bit slow for some, plot thickens like pea soup in the Exorsist (don't go imagining that, ye faint of heart) and the real action with Abberline sets in at the end of the chapter following this which I am almost finished writing. As in regards to the contest: Those that have picked are the only ones I will be using at the moment I might change my mind about a few others but as of now this is it.  
  
I hope you like these next few chapters because I'm planning on drawing out that unbearable tension to the breaking point. Told ya I was crazy!

  
  
Our hiding place did not stay hidden for long. The hounds of the party sniffed us out and made themselves unwelcome by barging in.  
  
"The Chevely's approach! All cower in fear." I hissed to Julie. She coughed back a laugh.  
  
"Oh Cass, dear, so this is where you ran off to." Olivia said in an overly pleasant way, "What on earth are you doing here of all places?"  
  
"One usually does read in a library." Julianne muttered from behind her book again, "I believe that is it's purpose."  
  
Olivia's eyes landed on Julie harshly, then her smile softened, "Yes, of course. Hello, Julie, darling, have you recovered from that humiliating rejection from Sir Henry? We were all so worried about you when you left the party in tears.........."  
  
Angelina smirked and Damara's eyes scrunched, trying not to smile. Olivia looked perfectly innocent, as if she really cared about Julianne, who had sunk a bit in the chair at her words.  
  
With a triumphant smile Olivia turned to me, "Come, Cass. Everyone is complaining that they haven't seen you all night." She held out her hand and for a moment I thought about taking it. But then I remembered her eyes and what was in them. Lies. She was made up of sweet lies.  
  
"You go on ahead, dear." I said placing a hand on Julie's shoulder, "but I think I'll stay here for a while more.........with my friend."  
  
Olivia's eyes narrowed to mere shards. She was warning me without words, 'Get off your ass and away from that girl and follow me, or I'll make you regret it.'  
  
And then I clinched it, saying kindly, "Run along, pet."  
  
Angelina's and Damara's smiles dropped from their mouths like flies, and despite her dominant stance, Olivia took a step back, "You've changed." She accused.  
  
"For the better we hope." Julie murmured softly beside me.  
  
Olivia began to pick under her nails again, "Girls," she addressed calmly to Angelina and Damara who snapped to attention, "let's return to the party. I'm afraid Cassandra won't be joining us."  
  
Taking the hint the girls walked to the door. Olivia however stood still before us, before a disquieting and unnerving smile spread across her face.  
  
"I understand that you're not feeling quite well, dear, and while your attitude stings me to the core, I hope you will reconsider your words. After all," her grin widened, and while I knew it was insane it seemed her teeth were sharpened, like fangs, ready to rip into anyone who displeased her, "you shall always be my friend."  
  
And with that she turned on her heel and gracefully exited stage right.  
  
Julianne shivered faintly beside me, "I can't stand her."  
  
"Neither can I."  
  
"You should have just gone with her," she said suddenly.  
  
"What?! Why?"  
  
"Because things are going to be worse now, for the both of us."  
  
"Oh really.......?" I asked sarcastically.  
  
"You don't know who you're dealing with, Miss Harlington."  
  
"And who am I dealing with exactly?"  
  
Julianne returned to her book, "I wasn't teasing when I said they were the Spawn of Satan. Be careful."   
  
I realized a little too late that Abberline was still with Olivia. I nearly screamed with frustration when I remembered. Leaving him with HER!! I must have been out of my mind!  
  
As it was I wasn't given much time to pout because not more than ten minutes after Her Highness had swept from the room a certain doctor came to fetch me.  
  
"Ah, Cassandra, dear, there you are!"  
  
I tried to hide behind Julie, who smirked at my desperation.  
  
"You've been like a ghost all night. People have to catch a glimpse of you or they'll think you've been murdered."  
  
Ironic coming from you.  
  
"How did you find me?" I asked meekly.  
  
"Oh Miss Hernandez informed me of your whereabouts."  
  
Julianne's eyes flicked to mine saying, 'Told you it would be bad.'  
  
"Come on," Farrel said pulling me to my feet without any pretense or apology, "You never used to be this shy."  
  
I waved to Julie before I was tugged out the door and down the hall.  
  
I don't know why he needed me so direly. He was once again talking for me. There's nothing more boring than being ignored. Luckily, I channeled that boredom into something much more useful.  
  
"Oh!" Angelina shrieked nearby, "Someone is throwing stuff at me!"  
  
I happened to be that someone, and I wasn't throwing stuff, I was FLICKING it, and they happened to be small spitballs. I had just successfully managed to get one in Damara's hair when someone called my name. Turning I saw Rayanna making her way through the crowd to me. My spirits immediately lifted as this was one person I was happy to see.  
  
"Rayanna." I said smiling as we embraced. She kissed each cheek quickly.  
  
"So sorry we're late but the traffic was unbearable."  
  
Beside me Farrel whitened more than his usual paler.  
  
"I'm so glad you're here." I confessed.  
  
She caught the tone of relief in my voice, "Don't tell me we went through unbearable traffic to come to an unbearable party." She laughed, "Oh yes and you remember Andre, don't you." She remarked addressing the man at her side. He was one of the Fab Five from the shop.  
  
"Yes I do."  
  
"Where is Abberline, the old chap?" He asked pleasantly.  
  
"Well, Andre, your suit was so artfully done that he was whisked away by a group of young ladies as soon as he entered."  
  
"By jove, really?! Smashing!" He exclaimed excitedly. Rayanna frowned at his side.  
  
"But what about you, dear?"  
  
"She's been hiding herself in the library for half the night." Farrel said stiffly.  
  
Rayanna's eyes caught ahold of Farrel and sparkled darkly, I felt as if a wave had swept over all our heads. A wave of old hurts and humiliated hearts.  
  
"Ah! Doctor Farrel, how good to see you again! It has been some time."  
  
Farrel bowed tensely, "Miss. Stewart."  
  
"Come, come we can use first names. We know each other better than that."  
  
Farrel's left eye twitched.  
  
"Why are you here?" He asked sternly.  
  
"Why, only to view my masterpiece." She claimed, her hand moving to indicate me, "Isn't that right, Andre?"  
  
"Hmmn? What was that, my dear, I was distracted by the most ghastly looking waist coat I have ever seen. Good god, something must be done! Excuse me, Miss Stewart.......those clothes should be banned or burned." The man was gone like a bat out of hell, had the poor guy by the arm and was ushering him into another room.  
  
"Oh Andre, work, work. Always work." Rayanna sighed sympathetically.  
  
"Miss Stewart.........." Farrel began.  
  
"So........tell me has the scent worked?" Rayanna asked me anxiously.  
  
"It's a beautiful scent..........." I answered truthfully.  
  
"Well, yes, yes of course it is," Rayanna rolled her eyes, "but has it taken on it's desired effect?"  
  
I shook my head, "I'm afraid not." I was a bit embarrassed about the whole thing as a matter of fact. It was a pleasing fragrance, nothing more.  
  
"Miss Stewart........." Farrel said again.  
  
"Drat. Perhaps I should get a refund on it then, cost the devil........"  
  
"Miss Stewart!" Farrel barked.  
  
"Yes, Doctor Farrel?" Rayanna replied sweetly.  
  
"It is imperative that I speak with you...........NOW." He growled and without so much as a 'forgive me while I drag her away,' Farrel took Rayanna's arm in a grip to crush her bones and led her away.  
  
What was all that about?  
  
I shrugged my shoulders. Old boyfriend or something.   
  
"What are you doing here?" Farrel hissed through his teeth.  
  
"I think we've established that I was here to see the success of my creation."  
  
"I will not ask you again Rayanna. What are you doing here?"  
  
She merely smiled.  
  
"I forbid you to be here."  
  
"Oh please, don't start pretending now you've had any say in what I've done or what I do."  
  
Glancing at the people passing, he said gently, "Leave. Leave now before I have you thrown out."  
  
"And miss the Party?" There was that secret smile again as she turned to walk away.  
  
"My god, woman." Farrel whispered in horror, "What are you scheming?"   
  
Olivia Hernandez stood in a corner, overseeing the young Inspector's cross of the room to refresh her empty glass.  
  
"Olivia........" A voice purred beside her, she smirked softly hearing it. A solid presence stood beside her.  
  
"What are you doing here in the shadows? Don't you usually enjoy the limelight?" The velvet voice questioned.  
  
"Hunting, my dear friend. I am hunting."  
  
"Obviously, but what kind of game?"  
  
Her delicate finger pointed to the figure of the Inspector. The man beside her appraised him.  
  
"He seems to common for you. Not your regular tastes at all." He commented.  
  
"There's something different about this one."  
  
"There always is.......in the beginning."  
  
Olivia shook her head, "No. I want this one."  
  
The figure beside her chuckled an amused dark laugh, "And what shall happen after?"  
  
"After what?" She asked sharply.  
  
"After you have tired of him. After he's ceased to amuse you. After you're done with him."  
  
Olivia smiled, turning to look at her old friend in the shadows of their shared corner, "That is yet to be decided. Who knows, this one might please me longer than the last. There is but one small thing in my way."  
  
The man's brow rose in a silent cocky expression asking her to continue.  
  
"That girl over there."  
  
The dainty hand was now pointed at the Guest of Honor.  
  
"Keep her out of my hair."  
  
The man's eyes raked over the distant woman's exquisitely full figure.  
  
"I shall be only too happy to oblige."   
  
I was left alone in a sea of people who occasionally stopped to say a few words or so to me.  
  
Just nod your head and smile, and you'll be fine. No sudden movements, that's the key.  
  
But it seemed I was in luck, someone of greater standing had made an appearance and the crowds were now flocking to the other end of the room to fight to shake whoever was there's hand.  
  
When Farrel finally returned to my side, Rayanna was not with him.  
  
"Well, my dear, shall we go see what all the fuss is about?"  
  
He didn't even wait for my answer as he led my straight into the growing circle. The whispers began to eat at my ears.  
  
"He's back from the Americas.........."  
  
"Made another fortune, no doubt.............."  
  
"I heard the President let him stay in his house.........."  
  
I snorted. Really if that excited people these days then they would have keeled over if they ever saw Rocky Horror.  
  
"Oh this is preposterous! Let us through!" Farrel commanded pushing people out of the way, "Hold on, my dear, I'll see if I can get a closer look and snatch whoever it is away for a moment." Farrel slipped further in as if he were swimming through crystal clear water instead of a muddle of human bodies.  
  
I entertained myself by tilting my head and nosying in on more of the gossip circulating around me.  
  
"He must have found a wife by now, don't you think? What else would he go to America for?"  
  
"No, thank god. He's as free as ever. Still the most sought after Bachelor, all the better for us. We still have a chance."  
  
"Cassandra."  
  
I turned as Farrel approached, "I would like you to meet a good friend of mine from Oxford. Lord Darque, Lady Harlington."  
  
The man behind him stepped forward and I felt a fear so acute run through me that I lost all ability to move under his hard ice shard eyes. I was afraid. As afraid as I had ever been. I couldn't..........do anything. I was dumbfounded, because I knew who this was. I had seen him before. Not here but I had seen him.  
  
Ebony black hair was cut and parted in the times traditional way, but other than that there was no change in his appearance. Impossibly blue glacier eyes pricked my skin like needles and his cruel features amplified their mute devil-look as his lips rose in a disarming smile.  
  
"It is a pleasure, Miss Harlington." I flinched a bit at the voice. If chocolate wrapped in satin were a poison that destroyed you it wouldn't have half as much power as that voice.  
  
Taking my hand, as I had yet to stir, his lips covered two of my knuckles in a shivery kiss that lasted perhaps four seconds at most. My hand twitch in discomfort under his mouth and my eyes closed as another slight tremor shook me. I opened them quickly only to find I had not been deceived. It was he.  
  
I could not move. Despite that one sentence was screaming in my head like a runaway train in Speed, "SINCE WHEN THE FUCK WAS JASON ISSACS IN THIS MOVIE?!!"  
  
Well there ye have it. Hope ye like it. And if ye don't ye can shove it. Hehe, and if any of you are wondering who the hell is Jason Issacs I suggest you look him up on imbd and find his pictures as Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Needless to say, if this story were about me (which it is) our little Inspector might be up against some competition. 


	16. Forbidden, Making good on the Promise, a...

Disclaimer: Hey all! Well here is the next installment and well I've been neglecting my other stories for you guys! I need to give me other bambinos some lurvin, so this might be the last chapter for a bit. Now don't spaz out just yet, that just means I may be updating two or three weeks from now instead of one. This story has a way to go so don't worry. Oh and great news earlier this week me and me mate, one Victoria finished writing the entire Pirates Hilariousity, nows all we have to do is to update (which some of us have been meaning to do) coughvickicough. Hope you enjoy. (sorry about all the spacing probs just when the sentence in not indented or tabbed that's the sign that there was a break before it, sorry again, damn new changes to the document manager, if someone can help me please do)

"Cassandra, dear, are you quite alright?" Farrel asked concerned at my side.  
  
My mouth sought to open, to speak but I could not find the strength in me to do it with His eyes holding me still as any hands. I felt pinned by his eyes like a butterfly in its showcase.  
  
"Cassandra?" He repeated a little alarmed this time.  
  
The man's eyes left me for what was only a milosecond, I gasped and was able to pull away. Seeing my fleeing movement the eyes locked like clamps again and I was held to the spot trembling in instinctive fear.  
  
"Cassandra?"  
  
My mouth freed itself, "I.......for.....forgive me, sir. I have not been feeling myself lately."  
  
"Understandable." He murmured, the muscles in my torso tightened at the sound, "In fact I'm surprised you're even here."  
  
"It is now my duty to carry my fathers name." I pulled myself up, "I shall do so without complaint of what is asked of me."  
  
"I commend you then." He bowed a bit.  
  
"Thank you. I appreciate that."  
  
"John!"  
  
Jason Isaacs doppleganger turned as a flustered Olivia Hernandez launched herself into his arms.  
  
Seems like Miss Hernandez was loose with a lot of the guys.  
  
And coming up from behind her was Abberline.  
  
"John, you horrid little devil! I thought you were in America!"  
  
I stared at Abberline trying to gauge by his expression alone what was going on in his head. What he could possibly have been thinking leaving me alone in this place? Was he having as much fun as I was not? You know that saying penny for your thoughts? I would have paid the Harlington inheritance to find out the answers to my questions. For most of his part Abberline continued to ignore my very existence.  
  
"I couldn't bear to be away from London for another moment." Mr. Darque/Jason Isaacs was telling a clearly smitten Olivia, "Especially during the Season when there are always new and interesting prospects to catch my eye."  
  
Mr. Darque's gaze outlined his words with much more meaning than what was said outright.  
  
Abberline's eyes finally betrayed him as they flinched dangerously between the two of us, as if he could practically taste the tension in the air. I knew I could.  
  
The band struck up another dance.  
  
John Darque stepped forward with such an animalistic grace, that I thought him for a second a predatory beast in the woods hunting game instead of at a ball seeking a dancing partner.  
  
He merely held out his hand. I was tired of being stone, and tired of being a wallflower, and damn tired of accommodating myself for an Inspector who obviously wasn't too happy with me at the moment. I took his hand.  
  
Mr. Darque smiled gently, and I was inclined to return it, feeling my fear slowly ebb away at the sight of it. (Sure he had usually played the bad guys in other movies, but that didn't mean he was one now, right?!) Besides Abberline it looked like was going chalk white as he clenched his jaw tightly, a sight which made me feel oddly and maliciously happy.  
  
"I believe Miss Harlington and I had agreed this was to be our dance." He said sharply.  
  
If he was looking for me to back him up on that, he was getting absolutely nada as I turned to view him haughtily, "I'm afraid you are mistaken, Inspector. I never promised you a dance, but if I had I believe you gave it to another woman at the beginning of the evening."  
  
Abberline's mouth dropped a fraction but if it dropped any lower than that I missed it. Mr. Darque had my hand and was leading me to the center of the dance floor.  
  
"Checkmate." He whispered, an arm going about my waist, pulling me tightly to him.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" I asked confused.  
  
"Your army surrounded him, Majesty, and then you knocked him flat."  
  
"I'm afraid I don't understand." I replied not really paying attention as I was trying to remember where my feet were supposed to go.  
  
Mr. Darque laughed pleasantly and I realized I was being extremely rude.  
  
"I'm sorry." I said embarrassed, "here I am dancing with you and I haven't asked anything about you."  
  
"Nothing to tell, really." He said gliding me about, "My name is John Edmund Darque. I spend most of my time doing nothing..........."  
  
"A very had task to carry out." I said.  
  
"Yes, extremely difficult." He chuckled lightly, "And other than that I go to parties, act like I'm interested and............" He spun me a bit, "seduce beautiful young ladies."  
  
"Sounds awfully tiring." I commented smiling, "Are you interested now or is this you pretending to be interested?"  
  
He pulled me back from the spin, "I happen to be very interested right now."  
  
The spirited song ended and we gave a polite applause. A slower more intimate tune's chords were being played now and I made to leave the floor when I saw Abberline walk out on the floor, Olivia following close behind him as they took their places to dance. Over her tanned shoulder he glared at me. It was war. Lifting my chin and sticking my nose in the air I turned back to Mr. Darque.  
  
"I would be honored by another dance, Mr. Darque."  
  
"My pleasure, Miss Harlington." He looked between Abberline and I amused. "And I insist............it's John."  
  
"John." I murmured as I placed my hand in his again. His hand splayed across my lower back and the butterflies erupted from my stomach as I now placed the tune of the dance. It was the Forbidden Waltz.  
  
There are no proper words to explain what it feels like to dance with a man who knows how. In one extreme it feels like you're walking on water, as if you could place one wrong step and fall into blackness, in the other you're walking on whisps of clouds and blinding light.  
  
And while I had begun this dance simply to retaliate against Abberline, I now found myself putting him our of my mind as every little curl of John's fingers at my waist, made me jerk slightly and lose momentary breathing ability.  
  
Maybe I should explain. The man who he uncannily resembled was the absolute epitome of sensuality. And I know some of you Depp fans will disagree, I mean who can beat the Depp? But every movement, word, and glance is simply dipped in vat of boiling sexuality and then covered with honeyed intonations and baked in a simmering heat of lust. And god forgive me for it but I was drawn to him.  
  
"I think you should admit it." He whispered to me.  
  
"Admit what?" I whispered back.  
  
"That you're taken with him. The man you jilted just now, who happens to be dancing with Miss Hernandez."  
  
"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about."  
  
"I think you do." He said softly, his fingers sinking into my side again causing me to grip his shoulder in a reflex to grab tighter to him. "And while I've used this tactic of revenge myself, I would rather you dance with me because it would please you to do so instead of to prove a point and dole out punishment."  
  
Damn, he was smart too.  
  
I felt a twinge of guilt somewhere close to where my skin was strumming with feeling where his hand was.  
  
"But it does please me." I murmured realizing I truly meant it.  
  
"Well," he smiled, he felt closer than ever now, as if his voice were whispered in my brain instead of just chillingly soft in the hollow of my ear, the sound vibrating in my skull. An odd tingling began to spread on my lips as my skin heated, "that's an entirely different matter then."  
  
The tempo picked up, beginning the reason of it's being called the Forbidden Waltz, a series of sharp spins and position changes that ended in fast embraces.  
  
I don't know how it happened. I honestly don't. I had nothing to do with it but all of a sudden I was dancing with Abberline. Before my brain could properly digest that fact he sent me into a flurry of deliberately violent and harsh complicated moves and I tried to keep pace as the music sped up again. Every spin or fancy position change brought us together harshly with hard hands and hard eyes. It became a challenge for each. Who would not be able to keep up, to meet each push with a pull? Who would be the first to give up and ask for mercy from the relentless music.  
  
Then just when I thought my lungs and veins would burst the music suddenly ceased, leaving behind a dull buzz in my ears, with Abberline and I clasped together, breathing raggedly, he through his nose and me in short shallow breaths. I have killer asthma.  
  
The buzz grew louder as we stood glaring at each other and I recognized the sound...........as applause.  
  
Turning my head, dazed, I saw we had the attention of the entire hall.  
  
Mr. Darque and Olivia stood a few feet away. Mr. Darque was clapping, a wise smirk on his features and Her Highness gave the golf clap and looked as if she had had a mini Jack the Ripper on her, she would have set him on me.  
  
And then it hit me, what we had just done in front of half a million people. We had basically just had wild jive sex in front of the toast of society. My asthma worsened and I knew I was about to have an attack. Pushing angrily away from Abberline, I stalked off the floor.  
  
As soon as I was out of the room I was wheezing, a hand to my chest, bent at the waist. Someone grabbed my arm, tugging me around. My breath hitched dangerously and the cramp in my side cried out in pain.  
  
It was Abberline.  
  
"We're goin'...........now." Still holding on to my arm tightly he began to drag me down the hall.  
  
I yanked my arm back. I was tired of being dragged around. I had been dragged into conversations with people I couldn't stand. I had been dragged out of the library way from Julianne. I had been dragged into a dance which my lungs were now paying for. I was done.  
  
"You.........listen...........and you............listen good........you," I fought to get my voice back. "I am THROUGH with people telling............me what to.........do. If you want to go, you go...........by yourself, got that? Cause I'm staying."  
  
"No, yer not. Yer coming with me. Now come." He had my arm again.  
  
Like a was a damn dog or something. That did it. It was the final straw. I had made a promise to the both of us what would happen if he tried this again. Pulling my arm back I socked him one, hard in the stomach.  
  
The wind knocked out of him he immediately let me go, stumbling back, clutching his abdomen.  
  
"I'm not your bitch Abberline. I don't come when I'm called, and I said no." I repeated firmly, "You broke your promise."  
  
"Yeh make it seem as if you didn't." He replied angrily, "Not more than two HOURS with those bastards and you act like yer one o' them! Smilin' with them, laughin', cozyin' up ta the nobility..........it's disgusting just ta watch yeh."  
  
I narrowed my eyes, "Well I'm not the one taking it up with Miss Hernandez." I said icily.  
  
"No, just with tha' Darque character." He retorted just as coldly.  
  
"Don't change the subject! Besides, I'm not the one with red haired lover waiting for me in Ireland here! What's with that anyway?! You say you love the woman and then you're shacking up with the next chick with a full bust you meet?! That's twisted and sick." I sneered.  
  
Abberline had the decency to look outraged at this, "Quiet." He ordered his voice threateningly soft.  
  
"No, because I honestly want to know! Have you changed your mind about this whole thing?! Because if you have I think I deserve to know before this goes any farther. Do you still love Mary Kelly? Perhaps you only thought you did. Isn't that what they call it? Infatuation.............puppy love..........physical lust.........?"  
  
Abberline pushed me into a wall, making me jam my shoulder, "Shut yer mouth, woman!"  
  
"Look at you! Ordering me around again! What makes you think you can treat me like this?! #1 You are not my brother, #2 you are not my father, and #3 you are NOT my lover! And even if you WERE I wouldn't take that kind of crap from you. What gives you the fucking right to be like this?! Huh?! Answer me!"  
  
Abberline looked like he was about to throttle me or slam me up against another wall, but he controlled his rage long enough to say, "We're leavin' an' I don't wanta 'ear another fuckin' word out of yer mouth until we're home and maybe not even afta tha'."  
  
I sighed fed up, "You go on and go. I'm not really in the mood to share an hour long carriage ride with you. But bottom line Abs babe, I'm really pissed at you and if you have anything else you wanna say to me, here's my answer, 'Fuck you and the busted ass horse you rode in on.' I'm outie." And saying this I tossed my head and turned to walk away. Turning the corner I found Mr. Darque standing, elegant as ever, before me.  
  
"I came to congratulate you. Brava! I don't think I've ever seen such a exciting ending to that waltz and I should know."  
  
The flush of my cheeks must have betrayed evidence of our fight. One look at me and his brow furrowed darkly, "Are you alright? What is wrong?" He looked over my shoulder.  
  
I heard Abberline step up behind me. I hardly moved my head to acknowledge him.  
  
"Why nothing is wrong, John." I said perfectly cheerful in a perfectly false way, "Nothing of any importance."  
  
"Well then," he said glancing doubtfully back at Abberline, "allow me to show you around?" He asked.  
  
The first time someone that night had asked for my acceptance.  
  
Now turning back I said clearly, "I would LOVE to." And taking Mr. Darque's arm, we proceeded down the hallway.

Once again I had jumped into an offer just to spite Abberline, ending up completely uncomfortable in Mr. Darque's company.  
  
"Do you know this house well?" I asked in an attempt to strike up conversation nervously.  
  
"Very. It's mine."  
  
I looked up at him, as he loomed a bit taller than me, surprised.  
  
"Is it really?"  
  
"No, I stole it from the Prince of England." He said playfully.  
  
"Don't make fun. I was being serious."  
  
"Forgive me." He smiled, "Yes, it is mine. This is Darque Manor, filled with all the proper necessities for a house of it's size............."  
  
I was bored already, "A wing full of armor I'm sure." I sighed.  
  
"But of course, armor that clanks to life precisely at twelve..........."  
  
Stunned, I realized he was joking. I smirked playing along.  
  
"Skeletons in the closets."  
  
"A dragon in the drawing room."  
  
"A witch in the dungeon."  
  
"And a specter in the attic."  
  
I laughed getting caught up in it, "A piano forte and harp in the blue room........."  
  
"Ah yes..........my music room captured your eye then? Do you play?"  
  
"A little." I admitted quietly.  
  
"Show me?"  
  
"If you wish."  
  
When we reached the room Mr. Darque pulled out the seat to the piano bench and stood behind me as I played a composition from Thomas Newman, following with the vocalizations. Finishing I felt his warm breath on the hollow of my neck.  
  
"You're an astounding woman, Miss Harlington."  
  
I paused unsure of this praise, "How kind of you to think so after so short a time of knowing me."  
  
A waiting silence followed in which my muscles tensed ready to spring. I felt very confused by his presence at my back and I didn't trust him behind me, and yet at the same time there was a horrible thrill and expectation in the air that kept me still, waiting to see what would happen next.  
  
A sharp knock came from behind us, making us spin around like children caught with our hands in a cookie jar.  
  
A well dressed manservant stood in the doorway.  
  
"Sir..........."  
  
"Not now, Meryman........" Mr. Darque sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but your colleges wish to speak with you about 'business'."  
  
"My god man," John exclaimed annoyed, "who conducts business at parties?"  
  
"Your associates assure me you do, sir."  
  
Mr. Darque sighed again, "Can it not wait?"  
  
"I'm afraid not, sir."  
  
"Well can't you just tell them I've gotten lost and can't be found?" John said in a last half hearted attempt to wiggle out of his affairs.  
  
"I could try sir, but I'm afraid there would be no point as this happens to be your house."  
  
John smiled grudgingly, "Yes, I suppose you're right. Very well, tell them I'm coming." He waved Meryman off then turned to me. Whatever tantalizing moment had been in the room minutes ago, it could not be found anywhere in his countenance now.  
  
"I am terribly sorry about all of this."  
  
I shook my head, "Don't be. You cannot help these things."  
  
"Perhaps I could. I could always lock myself in the library I suppose."  
  
"You'd still be found." I replied expertly, "I've tried."  
  
Mr. Darque laughed. A sound which brightened the room. I realized then he was like a conductor of such a force that he affected everything he came in contact with in one way or another. Hearing his laugh I felt myself release a chuckle with him.  
  
"Perhaps it is just as well. I must be getting home." I said getting to my feet with his aid.  
  
"Leaving so soon? It's rather unheard of for a young woman to leave at such an hour. There's so much fun to be had."  
  
"I'm not so sure there should be. Many seem to have forgotten why I am here to begin with."  
  
"Of course." He replied softly.  
  
He still held my hand gently. A nervous smile quirked on my mouth, "Aren't you supposed to be reuniting yourself with your business associates?"  
  
He smirked answering truthfully, "Yes."  
  
I laughed pulling back feeling the air thicken again, seizing my throat.  
  
"Let me call for your carriage." He insisted.  
  
I stopped then nodded, "Very well, but I must find my friend first."  
  
"And I must suffer myself to my fellow business men."  
  
We left cordially together, separating in the hall.  
  
I looked for Abberline but could not find him.

True to his word after speaking with his colleges, Mr. Darque was at my side.  
  
"Shall I call milady a carriage?"  
  
"If milady can find her escort." I said scanning the crowd.  
  
"Oh? I wasn't aware you came with escort."  
  
"Don't most women come with one?" I countered.  
  
He smiled that small wise smile again, "One could hardly call you most women, Cassandra."  
  
I felt thirteen again for about the umpteenth time that night. It had been years since I had blushed like that. When I was ten, at the Renaissance Festival, a knight in black armor kissed my hand, a thing that made me beam with secret pride. Mr. Darque seemed to have the same effect on me. I started to wonder how I really felt about Abberline when all my emotions paled in comparison for what feelings Mr. Darque was stirring in me.  
  
"So who is this escort?"  
  
"Well he........uh..........um.........he was the man I jilted, then dance with."  
  
"Ah yes.........that old fellow. I do believe he left hours ago though."  
  
My head shot up, "He did?"  
  
"I believe so."  
  
I couldn't understand. I mean I had told him to go if he wanted but that never works. "He.........he just left?"  
  
"Not without company."  
  
I shot him a glance, "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Miss Hernandez offered him the comforts of her own carriage."  
  
I hated to think what comforts those were.  
  
"Oh." I whispered hollowly.  
  
John seemed to understand, "I'll go fetch your carriage."  
  
He had already left by the time I managed to say thank you.

Not only did he fetch my carriage but since I had lost my escort he offered himself and his services to me in return.  
  
Fate it seemed had a great sense of irony. What goes around definitely comes around three fold, and I was enjoying my three as Mr. Darque and I spent an hour in a carriage not in silence but in laughter and mutually serious conversations. By the time we had reached the house, the last thing I wanted to do was get out of the friendly atmosphere in that carriage, beneath which lay the silent current of urgency to do something demanding.  
  
Helping me out he walked me to the stairs then stopped suddenly turning to me, "Those stairs look mighty dangerous, perhaps we should just head back to the carriage."  
  
"Mr. Darque," I scolded leniently, "you aren't by any chance, trying to prevent me from entering my house are you?"  
  
"Do you think I am?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Damn. I was hoping I wasn't as obvious as all that."  
  
God how I was dreading going back in that house now.  
  
"I suppose now," he continued, "I shall have to hold gala after gala to see you again."  
  
I wrinkled my nose in distaste of that idea. We were now at the door.  
  
"Thank you.........John. You've made this evening more pleasurable than it had any right to be."  
  
Mr. Darque looked oddly uncomfortable with such praise and answered it with a graceful wave of a gloved hand, "Consider it nothing. My payment was to be allowed to drive you home, and seeing now as I know where you live, I'm afraid you'll never be rid of me." And with a bow, he kissed my knuckles again, over the rise of which showed the unearthly light of his mocking eyes.  
  
I watched in a hazy kind of bliss as he ran down the steps, bowed again and drove away in the carriage.  
  
I walked into the house lazily and discarded my cape along the way with the tell tale beginnings of a ridiculous smile on my face. Making my way to my room I passed Abberline's. No light seeped out from beneath the cracks in the door, and I assumed he was asleep. Everything pointed to that conclusion except for the sound of breaking glass.  
  
Taking a step back, I raised a hand and knocked tentatively at his door. Silence was the only sound that followed and instead of filling me with comfort, it made the uneasy twinge in my stomach clench in an iron fist and the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I turned the knob which yielded under my touch, spilling light into the black of the room, that despite the light, seemed to thicken even more.  
  
"Abberline?" I asked stepping forward.  
  
My foot knocked against a bottle, it's green contents sloshing as it rolled away from me, away from the light.  
  
Making sure the door would not close on me I stepped further into the room, never leaving the patch of light. The bottle had rolled into the darkness and with a trembling hand I reached into it and pulled it out of the sucking void.  
  
The bottle was half empty, it's green liquid matching that of the coy green face of the fairy on it's surface. Spiraling spidery handscript lined all the way around.  
  
Absinthe.  
  
My stomach plummeted.  
  
My heart shuddered to a stop then restarted twice it's previous rate.  
  
I began to shake violently.  
  
I wanted nothing more than to curl myself in a ball and huddle in a corner, instead of calling into that darkness afraid of the answer I would receive. I forced myself to stand.  
  
"Abberline?"  
  
I distinctly remember the sound of air rushing, fast approaching before a glass shattered against the wall, two spots away from where I was standing.  
  
I couldn't even scream before the door slammed shut, and I was lost in the darkness. The Absinthe bottle dropped from my sweaty hands, shattering at my feet, splattering on the hem of my dress. All these things I realized dimly.  
  
Someone had begun to laugh.


	17. The Black, and in the Black, Voices and ...

Disclaimer: Guess what? I lied. Just for all you guys because you're so great. I stayed up half the night so I could get this to you before some of you have to go fantastic places like Germany. And as for others, update your own stuffs, waiting on edge of seat as it is. I hope this is a good chapter, you can never tell with those one in the morning writings.

I immediately panicked. I had never liked the idea of being plunged into darkness. Your senses turn against you so easily. Without color, perspective, you ate lost. Without your vision all other senses are thrown into disarray. I didn't appreciate feeling this.  
  
"Stop it." I commanded of the laughter.  
  
The laughter stopped.  
  
The silence was worse than it's sound.  
  
I was wheezing again in terror. And I ceased breathing when a feverish arm wrapped around my middle and a hand clamped down over my mouth.  
  
A hot cheek pressed to mine.  
  
"Hush." The voice whispered in my ear. Remnants of the laugh lilted the word, making me pull in a painful gasp of air through my nose. "Hush or yeh won't 'ear it."  
  
Whatever there was to hear I was hearing ten times louder. The only problem with this was that my rapid heartbeat was drowning everything else out.  
  
"There." The voice murmured at a time, "Much betta." The hand was removed, lazily drifting over my lips, running down my neck to massage it lanquidly, "Can yeh hear it?"  
  
I couldn't even recognize the whispered question as coming from Abberline, only that it was a silent command that I had to follow.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The voices."  
  
The voices? Oh god...........  
  
"They tell me things......."  
  
Oh god, oh god, oh god please...............  
  
"They tell me yer afraid."  
  
I tried to wiggle out of his firm embrace, but the hand on my neck traveled, resting heavily on my chest, right above my left breast.  
  
"But tha's one thing they don't hafta tell me. Yer heart is beatin' like mad. I can feel it...........like a hare fleein' the jaws o' a fox. Wha' are yeh runnin' from?"  
  
I struggled again growing desperate. He was drunk and dangerous and probably too far gone to know if he were to do something bad.  
  
"Shh, shh, shh......." He commanded breathily against my ear, "Don't be 'fraid little one, litt'l mouse, litt'l gel. Don't be afraid."  
  
Elbowing him with my free arm I leapt away, heading for what I could only guess was the door. That being a big problem, I ended up tripping over more bottles, jamming my hip against what I recognized to be the bed when I was tackled from the side (I couldn't tell which, the utter blackness had me disoriented and skittish so I couldn't tell my left from my right, my front from my back) to the bed.  
  
I barely had time to cry out as my face was pressed into the sheets, Abberline on top of me.  
  
"Quiet, pet, hush. It will all be alrigh'............it will be fione, don't yeh fret..........shh....." Abberline's soothing but not quite there voice, breathed on the exposure of my back despite it's hotness, sent a chill rippling through me, the sound pressing me deeper into the mattress even as Abberline's body covering me had the same effect.  
  
I spat out the corner of a sheet enough to manage to roar, "Get off of me, you moronic drunken SLOB!!"  
  
He uttered another gluttoral laugh, sending me cringing under him.  
  
"What is wrong with you!?!" I shouted, trying to dislodge him.  
  
I was forced onto my back. The laughter was gone from his voice when next he spoke.  
  
"She dares ta ask tha'?! Ta ask such o' thing?! After all tha' she knows?! Doesn't she know wha' we see at nigh', wha' rapes our eyes when we sleep?!" It was as if I wasn't there, as if he weren't talking to me, but to his inner demons, those voices. It seemed the Inspector had a Gollum/split murderous personality disorder up his sleeve as well as a drinking problem. He may not have been aware of me but his uncontrollable anger was more than sufficient to assume it was directed at me.  
  
"How can she ask such a thing?! When she's seen the blood. The blood o' those poor girls! How can she............but she'll make the blood flow again! We know it! The traitorous bitch!!"  
  
I hissed a shout of pain as something in the dark hit me across the face, sending me off the bed upon impact.  
  
My jaw had been disconnected, that much was certain or at least it felt that way. I could taste the coppery metallic taste of blood. Clutching my mouth with an unsteady hand I scrambled to find a wall. That would be a start.  
  
A tremulous quiet settled over the room. I tried to keep just as silent as I could practically hear Abberline listening for me. Praying, I felt softly along the walls as I shuffled against it, hoping no other horrible bottles would betray my presence.  
  
Abberline began to speak again, his voice rough and husky, "She'll betray us. We've seen it. We've fuckin' seen it! Traitor! Backstabber!"  
  
He was just mumbling one frightening comment after another now as I gulped back a sob. Don't lose it now, girl. Just find the door. Find the door and get out.  
  
No sooner had I thought that then I found it. I clutched at the knob and must have made some sound of desperate relief. Abberline was upon me.  
  
"Stop it! STOP it!!" I cried, beating at him, scratching and clawing for release, "Just stop it, Abberline!"  
  
"Don't yeh think I've tried to?!" He moaned hoarsely, "Don't yeh think I've tried ta prevent it all from 'appenin'?" But the screams, Mary............all the screams...........I couldn't........I wasn't able ta........." His voice was broken now and his hands gently took my face between them, his forehead pressed to my own, his mouth softly working inches from my own, "Don't yeh think I've tried, Mary?"  
  
I gasped as his lips connected slightly with mine. Drawing back he kissed me again. I stood stiff like a block of wood, my hands pressed against the door. Sighing, he pressed closer, the pressure of his lips becoming more persistent and demanding.  
  
Someone was banging on the door.  
  
Shuddering back to life, with a grunt I pushed him from me, turned and opened the door.  
  
Half the staff waited beyond it. Abberline stood blinking in the door way.  
  
"Miss?" I'm sure that was Ellie.  
  
I stared at the floor, "Mr. Cox, please fetch Sergent Godley immediately. It is an emergency."  
  
"Yes, mum."  
  
"Ellie, get the strongest staff we have able. Make sure the Inspector stays subdued."  
  
"Yes, mam."  
  
I dimly remember her ordering some boys by the name of Stephan and Kyle to handle Abberline.  
  
"Miss?"  
  
"Hmmn?"  
  
"Are........are yeh alrigh'?"  
  
"Yes........yes of course, Ellie."  
  
"Miss?"  
  
"Yes, Ellie?"  
  
"Where are ye goin'?"  
  
"To throw these out."  
  
"What, miss?"  
  
"There shall be no more alcohol under this roof."

I was in the process of pouring whatever was in the bottles down the kitchen sink when the Sergent arrived. Wiping my hands on my dress I went to meet him.  
  
"Wha' is it?! Was 'appened?!" He asked frantically coming forward.  
  
How could I explain what had happened. Abberline went mad? He hurt me? He scared me?  
  
"Godley........." I began my voice cracking, "Abberline..........."  
  
"Lass, come a bit closer. Wha's tha' on yeh face?"  
  
"Abberline is..........."  
  
"Jesus Christ, child. Did.........did he do tha'?"  
  
"Abberline is very ill, Godley and he needs your help. I was wondering if you could watch him for the night."  
  
"Well, yes, o' course, lass, but......but......holy god.......he did tha', didn't he?"  
  
I didn't want to talk about anything that had happened in that room.  
  
"Abberline needs you now, Sergent."  
  
"Yes, Miss," He was still stumbling, "but wha' about yeh?"  
  
"I'm going to bed."  
  
I left him there in the hall and I went to bed. I never wanted to wake again.

I knocked at Abberline's door the next morning. The man who opened it could hardly be recognized as Abberline. He was weather beaten, sallow skinned, and his red rimmed eyes showed just how much sleep he had gotten the night before.  
  
"Sarah........." He uttered, his expression furrowed as if trying to see me clearly.  
  
"We need to talk."  
  
He opened the door to let me in, showing Godley already up, making tea.  
  
I turned back to Abberline as he closed the door. Turning himself, his eyes seemed to focus, then narrowed. He began to walk slowly to me.  
  
"Do you remember anything from last night?" I asked him.  
  
"Wha' the 'ell is tha'......." He whispered stepping closer, gently taking my chin in his hand, tilting my head up.  
  
"Do you remember anything from last......." I repeated.  
  
"Shut up." He said quietly, turning my head to the right. He hissed, "My god, Sarah..........how?"  
  
I brushed his hand off, "Do. You. Remember?"  
  
His eyes were raking over my face with barely veiled disbelief and horror. He lowered his hand slowly, "I......."  
  
I glared coldly and unflinchingly at him.  
  
"No." His hand clenched. The second time he said it like a prayer, "No." Like salvation was in that word, like his conviction would make it so. He shook his head angrily.  
  
"Here's how it goes." I said calmly, "There will be no more drinking.........ever. No more drugs, nothing. Do you understand me?"  
  
Abberline nodded, eyes on the floor.  
  
"And if you ever lay a finger on me in anger again, I swear to god.........."  
  
His head shot up.  
  
"I swear to god...........I'll kill you. No one hurts me and gets away with it. No one."  
  
He nodded.  
  
He understood.  
  
With no other words to give him, I left.


	18. The Cycle and Rant

Disclaimer: Hey there (waves sheepishly) Uh sorry for the long wait, (chuckles nervously at the sight of the hidden threatening weapons) but I'm here to make it up to you. And cut me some slack finals are murder much like a certain course of business in the FreeMason line of work.  
  
Special thanks to Pineapplelint: Gotta luv ya cyber sis, you helped me out of a plot ditch, just as tricky as Labyrinth sand pits. You really helped.  
  
More to come just in a few words,: Hernandez estate, more shopping, Darque (roar, god I love that man) and finally a real party, Abberline's style with a twist of Sarah doing a table dance! I have to keep myself interested, savvy. Oh and Hilariousity is also being updated. Enjoy.  
  
Life was quiet after that night. I avoided Abberline most of the time, as best I could, the only time we met in mutual good humor was at the dinner table and the silence there was equally heavy ad in the rest of the house. I could not see how this could be forgotten. Maybe forgiven if given time, but not forgotten.  
  
He had struck me and it had not shattered me as I thought it would, it had only made me harder, more resolute to finish my job and go home.  
  
I thought with all I had been through the worst was over. Like in most causes, I was wrong.  
  
"Just get me the strongest pain killer you can find," I cried crunched in upon myself as wave after wave of cramps ran through me, "and hurry it up!"  
  
The little maid hurried out and I felt guilt for a second before I was attacked by another roll of my tightened muscles.  
  
'God, what the HELL was I thinking when I made that wish?! Unsanitary, lack of advil, they should have named the damn movie In Hell. Jesus!' I thought fervently as I clutched a pillow to me, whimpering pathetically, squeezing my eyes shut to the point where tears popped out and slid down my face to mingle with the snot dripping out of my nose. It was a pretty nasty sight.  
  
Truth be told, I had almost forgotten that my period was to be due that week, and the first cramps nearly killed me. In a very short time I learned just how much discomfort woman went through in those days. It was a miserable kind of pain, miserable because I knew I had nothing to dull it.  
  
I was weeping with abandon when there was a soft knock at my door.  
  
Cringing, I gave an animalistic cry of anger. Couldn't I even have some peace when I was in pain? Throw me a fricken bone, ya morons. Shit, I wanted my heating pad. And chocolate........  
  
"Sarah?"  
  
My pain was acute and I really did not want to handle him right now.  
  
Abberline poked his head in, shutting the door quickly before a cup and saucer shattered near where his head had been.  
  
He peeked his head back in, "Tha' was the good china, Sarah." He chided.  
  
"Get the hell out of my room! I'd say the same to my nonexistent brothers, if I had any!" I cried burying my head under my pillow.  
  
I heard him sigh then close the door, but he hadn't left, instead he had come to my side. I felt the shifting of the mattress as he sat on the end of it.  
  
"Wha's wrong?" He asked gently.  
  
"Noffin'........." I muttered from beneath the covers.  
  
"Isnot noffin' if yer makin' such a fuss."  
  
"Well, excuse me, I believe I have the right to fuss in my current position right now, thanks."  
  
"Wha' 'ave yeh ta fuss abou'? Look where ye are.......a fancy house, servants waitin' on yeh hand and foot......Wha' 'ave you got ta complain about?"  
  
I pushed the covers off me and sat up angrily, "Ya wanna know?! I've been bum rushed to this CRAP hole of the past. I have no idea if I'm ever gonna see a T.V. again, or a C.V.S for that matter! I'm trying to smuggle a taken self righteous bastard INSPECTOR out from under the eyes of a deadly clan of Free Masons to his lover across the sea! I have to deal with the nobility I don't trust! And on top of all that my legs are hairy, my boobs are practically nothing because they're crushed by these damn corsets, and I've got the serious runs from my PERIOD!! THERE!! Is THAT enough to fuss about?!"  
  
Beyond looking disturbed or embarrassed about my outburst, Abberline was merely smiling gently.  
  
"Feel better?"  
  
I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly, "As a matter of fact, yes."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Another wave of cramps hit me and I crumpled over, "No!" I whimpered.  
  
Abberline looked confused, "No?"  
  
"No, uh uh, no, nope....."  
  
I heard the door open. It was Ellie.  
  
"Miss Hernandez here to see you, miss."  
  
"NO!!" I cried burying myself again, pounding on the mattress.  
  
"Ellie," Abberline said softly, "I don't think now is the best......"  
  
"Cass, dear?" Rang out a sweet voice, "Oh. Hello Fredrick."  
  
"No, no, no, no......" I murmured brokenly into the sheets.  
  
"Cass, darling, what ever is the matter?" Came the deep, lulling voice of Olivia.  
  
"Ms. Harlington is suffering a strange kind o' affliction in which she's crouchy ta everyone." I heard the unshed laughter in Abberline's voice.  
  
"Oh the poor dear........" I could hear the laughter in her voice too.  
  
"I'm not poor," I muttered, "I've got gold coming out my ass."  
  
The comment was like a shot in an already dense quiet.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" She whispered.  
  
I groaned pushing myself up to find a scandalized Olivia Hernandez gazing bug eyed at me, and a warning Abberline motioning me to shut up.  
  
"You are not pardoned. I am rich and so are you, and yet you flaunt your wealth with no thought of those below you. You sit in your comfortable boudoir and entertain many men, while women every inch a better one than you must please men on the streets to survive." The words just started to come out of my mouth and I couldn't stop them, and I didn't want to. I wanted to rant and since Hernandez had just walked in my radars had kicked in and she had a huge target on her. "You have dinner parties and galas to celebrate your good fortune, while others on the streets have naught but two shillings to rub together to make a fire. You are a woman of society and yet you are lower than the grime in the slums in my eyes for all you do not do for those who would look up to you."  
  
Abberline had his head in his hand.  
  
"Your cheerfulness is a lie, your concern a façade. You are deceitful and false........and for all these reasons I do not trust you and ask that you never enter my house again or you shall greatly regret it."  
  
Olivia who had stared unblinkingly and tightlipped through my entire speech, opened her mouth and uttered, "You know that is not true, Cass. You are ill. Very, very ill and your words are madness."  
  
Oh really......  
  
"Afraid you might catch it?" I mocked, "Frightened these radical ideas might infect your mind as well? Don't worry Olivia, dear," I sneered, "there is not imminent threat of that."  
  
Abberline's head shot up from the cradle of his hands, and he pinned me with a glare before asked Olivia to wait a moment outside.  
  
"Good thinking, I thought she'd never leave!" I expelled a sigh.  
  
"You are to apologize."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" I asked in a ghetto, 'Excuse yo ass? I know you ain't just diss my mama.' Way.  
  
"Ye are not. Apologize to her."  
  
"I'm not apologizing to THAT, are you nuts?!"  
  
He continued on commandingly as if he had not heard me, although I knew he had, "I'm goin' ta ask her to come in again and yeh will apologize to her. Do I make myself clear, Sarah?"  
  
I sniffed disdainfully, "We KNOW I'm crazy, what's your excuse?"  
  
"Sarah....." He warned.  
  
"I'm kinda confused about this, so see if you can help me out here. You hate society, you're well known for it, I mean come on, ya tried to strangle me the first time I met you. But then here comes Miss-Latina-I- Taught-Duan-Quan-De-Marco- Everything-He-Knows and you just cannot wait to rush to her defense. Do ya see where I'm hung up?"  
  
"No. Now apologize." He snapped.  
  
"No, no I don't think I will. You know have major mucho seriouso problemas, chico? I mean aside from the opium addiction, alcoholism, Gollum syndrome, and now this Catcher Block: Man's Man, Ladies Man, Man About Town, Changes women as often as he changes his shirt deal.....THING! You are one twisted freak! Three woman in four months?! That's just.........UGH!!"  
  
Abberline, who had been glowering at me as if it could actually do something to me, did a double take, "Three?"  
  
"What?" I asked whappishly.  
  
"Three women? By yeh own accusations I only count the two."  
  
Huh..........  
  
He arched a brow, "Am I wrong? Is somethin' off? Three, Sarah?"  
  
Re count: Mary Kelly, Olivia Hernandez.........  
  
Oh.....  
  
Yeah  
  
And Me. Of course there was no me, so.........  
  
Shit.  
  
"Uh.........." I stammered.  
  
The brow rose even more.  
  
"Three?" I asked as if he had spoken Westron.  
  
"Yes, three, yeh said three women in four months. Wha' do ya mean by tha'?" He crossed his arms over his chest, gazing at me inquiringly.  
  
"Mary Kelly, Olivia Hernandez.........uh.......and um......ELLIE! Ellie was the third!" I proclaimed.  
  
He looked shocked. As if he had been expecting some other name to spring from my lips. Was there more out there?! Who else had he been eyeing?! Rayanna? Farrel.......oh wait he's not a sissy girl........wait again, yes he is, I was wrong.  
  
"Ellie?" He gaped comically, "Now who's mad?!"  
  
"Me!"  
  
"Righ'!"  
  
"Right!"  
  
"Wha' are we arguein' abou' again?!"  
  
"I'm not sure!"  
  
"Tha' makes two o' us!"  
  
I gave him a thumbs up.  
  
"Am I supposed ta know wha' tha' means?!"  
  
"I guess not!"  
  
We began laughing until I had a stitch in my side and Abberline was weeping.  
  
"Ah ha ha...." He chuckled weakly wiping a tear away, "Are yeh gonna apologize now?"  
  
"No fucking way." I giggled.  
  
Giving me a crafty smile he walked out the door shutting it gently behind him.  
  
A moments murmuring outside, he came back in with a bouquet of flowers.  
  
"She accepts yer apology." He told me with a wink.  
  
"You complete ass. Those for me?" I asked.  
  
"Yes, though yeh 'ardly deserve 'em after all tha'." He said handing them to me.  
  
They were roses, but not the sort of roses I expected a woman like Olivia to purchase. Red roses, but so deep a red that they looked like a starless night sky black, like velvet black, panther black. And in the center, one white. It looked smothered.  
  
They didn't seem like Olivia to me. I frowned as I looked for a card.  
  
"If yer wonderin' as yeh should be, I informed Miss Hernandez that you were under the influence of your medication, an' ta disregard any unpleasant details of her visit."  
  
"Good for you." I murmured as I found the card, embedded among the thorns and silken petals.  
  
"Yer gonna wish ye 'as just apologized and talked her out of another invite. As it is as I didn't 'ave yer negotiatin' skills, she insisted that we both come to her estate for some riding and tea for next Tuesday at Noon."  
  
What was it about those roses. They smelled familiar, I thought ripping into the card. I placed the heavy promising scent as to the musky fragrance that had assailed my nostrils in the music room and in the carriage only a few nights ago, as I saw the name scrawled on the card.  
  
"Nice o' her ta give yeh flowers."  
  
"They're not from her." I replied smugly, handing him the card.  
  
John Edmund Darque pays his respects to the lovely Miss Harlington and wishes her a full recovery, as London is dry without her and dance partners scarce. He seeks to know if she rides as well as she plays the forte, and reminds her that he shall see her next Tuesday.  
  
"Darque." He sneered handing the card back, "A tad bit bold, don't ya agree?"  
  
"Absolutely." I grinned, "And I love that."  
  
Abberline rolled his eyes, "To each his own."  
  
"Her own." I corrected him, putting the card back in the envelope, "You do know what this means, don't you?" I asked.  
  
"Yeh 'ave bad taste in men?"  
  
"Shopping." I said sticking my tongue out at him.  
  
"Wha' for?!" He asked aghast. "We were there but a damn week ago!"  
  
"Riding habit."  
  
Growling in agony and frustration he bit out, "Ye should've just apologized, ye prideful wretch!"  
  
"Nope!" I chirped, "Never give up. NEVER surrender! But fear not we won't go for at least another five days. I could not fit into anything now if I tried!"  
  
"Well tha's some consolation." He grunted, poking at the roses. "I don't like those."  
  
I sighed pulling them from him, "Well, good thing they're not for you."  
  
"I think the white one should be in a different vase." He said suddenly, a strange look in his eyes. He almost seemed afraid for some reason.  
  
I looked at the lone rose, at the darkness closing around the pure petals.  
  
"No. Leave it."  
  
He looked at me, his lips parted slightly.  
  
I smiled, "It looks comfortable where it is." I paused and then added in an afterthought, "She likes it there."  
  



	19. Yeah well that's twelve shades of SUCK, ...

* * *

Disclaimer: aakd;leilkdjalsduoiweulkdfjowierulkdfj I'm typing to the rhythm of Something's Gotta Give soundtrack, and I have Holding out for a hero stuck in my head, and I am in love with Mason from Dead Like Me. Sadly I own none of those things except for the soundtrack, and as Abberline isn't a soundtrack, I don't him either. There you have it and it sucks.  
  
Really short chapter at least by my standards but hey I can live with that, can you? Hope you like, I gave you more Cass and Abs time.  
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"How do yeh do it?" Came the exasperated and somewhat muffled reply from behind me.  
  
"Do what?" I inquired happily, entering the foyer, handing a few boxes to Ellie.  
  
"How do yeh...."  
  
"Hold that thought." I turned and pulled the rest of the boxes out of Abberline's arms so he could speak clearly.  
  
"......do tha'?!" He exclaimed.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that, I'm afraid." I smiled.  
  
"It's no use....I don't even understand it." He muttered.  
  
"And you never will. But I think it's better that way, personally." I informed him cherrily, "Now off to bed. We have to see the you-know-whos tomorrow and the you-know-what."  
  
"Who? Wha'?"  
  
Exactly. Now go. As much as I love your company, dear boy, I need my sleep too."  
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A fox crept into my lap and my arms immediately encircled it, feeling it's soft fur prickle my arms. Holding it close, it nuzzled itself into my neck. It's soft, wet nose made a giggle rise out of me. Pulling back, it's cunning pointed face smirked.  
  
A familiar, disquieting smirk.........  
  
And I was no longer sitting but standing, pressed up against a wall, not slammed for the first in a long time. And the fox was Darque.  
  
A finger traced gently along my bottom lip.  
  
"Well, we've already seen what music can come from that lovely mouth of yours. What else can it do," he loomed ahead of me. His proximity was enough to punch the breath right out of me. And he was teasing me. I could tell, because he was drawing this unbearable uncertainty out, making me restless, "I wonder." The sigh of his question stopped me and spurred me into action all at the same time. I pressed into him as he pulled me into his arms. Wrapping around me, his warmth drove me practically up the freaking wall. Driving me to the point where I would have given him anything, more than he was taking at the moment.  
  
But then he was cold. And clammy.......  
  
And I was suddenly kissing a dead girl. Pulling back, I hit the brick wall of an alley, hard, panting, breaths of horror fogging the air. The body dropped to the ground with a sickening, thunk. Blood was pouring out from her, creeping along the ground. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. When it touched the toe of my shoe, then, and only then, did I start to scream.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
I don't think I would have stopped if I hadn't been seized tightly and jerked against a living, breathing body. I fought against the solid presence for a while before I placed it as someone I knew.  
  
"Shh, shhh, it's alrigh',"  
  
Instead of trying to push myself out of the hold now, I buried myself deeper into Abberline, tremor after tremor running through me.  
  
His grip on my shoulders relaxed as he held me back to look at me.  
  
"Jesus Christ...." Swiping a hand over my face, I suddenly realized I wasn't just shivering from the memory of the dream. I was freezing and his hand felt like it had been on a stove of high 130. I tried to throw myself away from the sting of his hand.  
  
"No, no, no......" He ordered, pulling me back and holding me vise like again, "Stop, stop, stay still........god, Sarah............"  
  
I had long since stopped my screams. I felt as though my mouth had been welded shut. Abberline moved his hands rapidly up and down the length of my arms. I felt the blood rush back into me, and his touch did not burn now, but loosened my throat, and I cried. Great big galloping cries. Sobbed like a baby. Sobbed like I had just seen the Titanic for the first time, after watching all those people who didn't have to die, the old people holding each other on the bed, the mother telling the children the story of Tirnanog, die.  
  
Abberline just held me and waited patiently for the sobs to subside, gently stroking my hair. He murmured things I didn't quite hear or understand because I kept hearing Darque's voice. I shut my eyes tightly and gripped him harder, but I could feel the body and see the.........the blood.  
  
"Wha' is it?" He murmured into my hair.  
  
I shook my head against his neck.  
  
"Wha' happened?'  
  
Again I shook my head against him. Images flickered behind my lids. I just wanted it to stop, and it wasn't going to anytime soon. I needed something to make it stop.  
  
Something as soft as a cat's paw landed on my forehead. And then on my right temple.  
  
I blinked open my eyes and the pictures disappeared. I shook my head once more only this time in confusion. Pulling back, I blinked a few more times looking up at him.  
  
His hair was tousled and his vest was gone. He just wore slacks now and a very worn white shirt.  
  
"Sarah....." He murmured concerned.  
  
"Did......." I began uncertainly , "did you touch me?" Things were still a bit fuzzy for me.  
  
He drew back as well, "I am touching you."  
  
I looked down at his hands on my arms.  
  
"Oh......." My brow furrowed. Of course. "Yeah........"  
  
"Sarah........?"  
  
"Hmmmn?"  
  
"Wha' happened just now?"  
  
I was about to shake my head again when he grasped my chin, "An' don't......just shake yeh head at me."  
  
This time I nodded and he gently removed his hand. I was starting to feel more normal.  
  
"Wha' was it........what scared you?" He asked again.  
  
I ran a hand through my hair, snagging it on some tangles, "A dream."  
  
"A dream?"  
  
"A nightmare." I clarified. Then I thought of the weight of lips on my mouth, demanding," ......well technically."  
  
"I see..." He murmured tiredly, "An' wha' 'appened in this dream......"  
  
"Nightmare."  
  
"...............nightmare, tha' frightened yeh?"  
  
Even now I was beginning to forget the exact color of the blood , or the way the fur of the fox felt in the crook of my neck.  
  
"Well," I sighed, "considering it was a nightmare and as such are supposed to be frightening, I saw what you'd, you know, what you'd regularly see......"  
  
"Such as..........?"  
  
"Stuff."  
  
"Stuff?"  
  
"Well, dead stuff to be specific...."  
  
Oh my god, how Halely Joel Osmond clichéd was that?  
  
"A dead....girl." I completed.  
  
Abberline's hands gripped me again, "A dead girl?" He inquired.  
  
"Yeah, dead, deceased, knocked off, ya know, the soul was gone but the stench remained?"  
  
He dropped his hands from me quickly, "Yer positive."  
  
I pinned him with a look, "If blood is any other color than red, say a puke mutant green, then yes, I'm positive." I snapped.  
  
"Are you sure it was a dream?"  
  
"Nightmare."  
  
"Are. Yeh. Sure?" He asked urgently again.  
  
"What else would it be?"  
  
"A vision." He retorted impaciently.  
  
"A say what?!"  
  
"A premonition. Good god, woman how could yeh forget tha'?! Godley told me you get them too!"  
  
"Why would he tell you a crazy thing.....like......uh oh....."  
  
"Uh oh?" He peered at me, "Uh oh?"  
  
"Spaggettio's."  
  
"Sarah....." He murmured low, severely.  
  
"I might have told a little lie......"  
  
"Might? Little lie?"  
  
"Fabrication, really."  
  
"Sarah." He groaned my name as if I were a child who had just scribbled the F word on newly painted walls with hot pink crayola.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I muttered, " But I had to meet you somehow! God damn, Abberline!"  
  
Shaking his head he got up, "Goodnight, Sarah."  
  
And he headed toward the door.  
  
"Oh! Oh I get it! You're just like Angel and Wesley, you don't care about my welfare unless it comes with a ready vision. I could be having a heart attack and you wouldn't give a rat's ass as long as I had a vision as well! And that is twelve shades of SUCK, my friend!" I huffed, sitting bolt upright.  
  
His hand dropped from the door knob and he calmly made his way over to me.  
  
"Yeah, that's right," I declared, "I said, Twelve shades of vibrant neon rainbow skittle SUCK!"  
  
He got up right in my face, put the palm of his hand to my forehead as if he were one of those over zealous evangelists and I was blind and deaf, and otherwise injured and he was gonna heal me on national tv, and actually PUSHED me back down to the pillows and said quite simply, "Stop yer whining and go to sleep, Sarah."  
  
And smirking smugly he turned to leave with my mouth hanging open in a "now-I-know-you-sure-as-hell-didn't-just-hit-me-on-the-head-the-Matthew's- Life's-Tough-Get-A-Helmet" way.  
  
I finally regained my wits enough to say, "You're such a fucking asshole," before the door shut behind him.  
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Ok coming to a fanfiction near you: Here's a possible way things can go next chappies, I get so steamed at Olivia and pour scolding hot tea on her lap, I push Darque into a broom closet and keep him there for twelve hours as my slave, Abberline shows me what a real party is like, dancing the Time Warp, a little table seduction....I have a number of songs prepared for that but I'd like to know what song you would be most likely to table dance to if you were ya know.....me but......really .......um you. Don't ask. Let me hear it! I like big butts? Lady Marmalade? Naughty girl? You tell me, even if I don't use your idea I'll take your name and make you some of the girls who join in on the dance, Cayote Ugly style.


	20. Don't get too excited til they finish th...

Disclaimer: (downcast) I sorwwy. I been bad, bad. But hopefully this chapter is good, good, if ya catch my drift. It's gonna get bumpy soon with the plot, so be prepared for me doing some pretty not right things.........and they might not be what you expect.....as this chapter might foreshadow. All right enough of the mights and here's what will happen:

* * *

"Which way, left o' righ'?"

"Right."

"Can I just say again how much I dislike this?"

"No," I replied simply, "Watch the road."

A sigh accompanied the request.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't get all huffy, just bear in mind it was YOU who accepted the invitation. I had nothing to do with it whatsoever."

"Don't even start.........."

"But hey, why not spend a day being snubbed while we drink crappy herbal tea and get thrown from Black Beauty's evil twin? I mean just why the hell not? I'm game."

"Of course yeh are."

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Wha' tha' means, Miss Harlington, is that........"

"Did you just sneer my name?" I asked incredulously.

"It's not yer name." He pointed out.

"Beside the point, Abberline. I hate it when you do that. I really hate it."

We lapsed into silence, watching the passing green of the hills as we rode side by side in the small buggy, drawn by two chocolate colored mares, making our way to the Hernandez estate in the country not too far from where the Darque mansion resided.

That was some consolation from this fresh new hell. John would be there and with that sort of distraction, my mind was left wondering, "Olivia? Who cares? Psh."

"Yeh didn't let me finish my thought." Abberline said breaking the silence.

"And I don't intend to." I replied shortly.

"Sarah.........." He sighed wearily.

As much as I hated him sneering at my title. I felt a slight tremulous thrill run through my every nerve when he said my real name.

"I've been meaning ta ask you about this......."

I inclined my head subtly to show him while still remote to his words, I was listening.

He took a breath and then expelled in a gigantic rush what had been on his mind all this time, "When is this plan o' yours goin' ta be set inta action?"

The question stumped me. What did he mean?

"It's been two months now, nearly three........" he continued.

I still couldn't see where this was going.

He ran a hand through his curls, becoming agitated. The movement caught my eye.

"Not ta be insinuatin' tha' this isn't all apart o' your grand plan an' scheme of things.......but......" He made some sound of frustration and I noticed how his jaw jutted forward when that happened, "but it seems ta me we're supposed to be duping the nobility not caterin' ta their insatiable appetites for company."

"Subtitles please?"

"Wha'?"

"Speak English, why don't ya?!"

He snapped the reigns a bit harder than he had to, "In a manner o' speakin' ya seem to be enjoying your role as one of them beyond wha' the call of duty requires. I'm startin' ta wonder if yer plan is even your plan anymore."

My insides squirmed.

"You're questioning my intentions?" I asked sourly, looking straight ahead.

He opened his mouth as if he were going to take it back, closed it, then opened it again, "Yes. Yes, I am. Lately, yeh've been........"

I turned my head sharply in his direction as if to say, 'Yes? You were about to say something incredibly dullwitted and stupid to my face? Well come on then, BRING IT!'

He faltered somewhat under the gaze but then he recovered and his features hardened, "Yeh've been infatuated with this picture of the nobility, tha' some represent........"

"Some, meaning the distinguished Mr. Darque."

"As a matter of fact........"

"No. I know what you're thinking, Abberline, and you're wrong. No offence man but no more of this, Abberline, because seriously.......it's fuckin' up my jive........ok. Stop acting as if I were some star struck, smitten harlot that's gonna dump you for someone better, cause believe it or not, that's not what I am, unlike some women who could lose interest like that (coughOliviacough) Honest to god, I came to help. And I will help you.........once you get your ass off the bench and get in the game."

"Excuse me, but wha'?"

"What what?"

"Wha' is tha' supposed ta mean?"

"It means, duping the upper class into believing we're in love is sorta like dancing. You need two to tango and all that sort of thing. You do for me, I do for you. You be good ta momma, and she get's you Billy Flynn for a lawyer. Is any of this getting across? Do you understand the words that are coming outta my mouth?!!!" I finished in a Chris Tucker plea for understanding.

"Yer really very frightening when yeh do tha'."

I gave him one last withering glance before huffing and turning around, "Forget it."

Another moment of silence in which I counted forty cows that we passed, went by. Hell, the Serta sheep could've made a killing had they been in these fields.

"How does the odious Mr. Darque figure in with the dancing analogy migh' I just ask?"

"How does Miss Hernandez?" I shot the volley back, then relented, "Just find the cool within you to chill, ok? I'm handling this the only way I know how."

"Oh?" He mocked, "With witty sarcasm and vigorous flirting?"

Rolling my tongue into a curly q, I flipped him off. "Stop being fresh and watch the damn road, you maniac. You almost hit that squirrel."

We had reached some kind of truce where neither of us knew exactly what the other meant. And I was down with that.

* * *

After being shown into the Hernandez foyer by her stiff looking butler (Alfred, or I liked to think he resembled Bruce Wayne's fatherly friend and mentor) Mr. Grady, we waited patiently in the grand entrance before some very intimidating stairs that led up to three or four more stories.

Some of us waited patiently, others decided complaining was the proper thing to do.

"Oh my god, I have to sit down soon!"

"Yeh were just ridin' in a buggy for an hour, how is it that yeh could possibly want to sit down again? Myself, personally, I need to stretch my legs."

"Then stretch away! You sir, don't have on twenty pounds of womens underwear dragging you to the ground!"

"Thank god for tha." Abberline smothered a light chuckle.

"Ack my back, my back! I think it's gone out! Jesus, I feel like woman of sixty!"

"Well, yeh don't look it wif tha' on." He pointed out distastefully to my dress.

"Not another rant about my clothes, Abberline. I'm not in the mood." And I really wasn't. The nightmare from the night before, the ride this morning, the uneasy feeling in my tummy about this Mad Hatter's tea party with Olivia, all were driving me to the point of lashing out if anything attacked me and my wicked style.

"Well, look at it........"

"Yes. Why don't you?" I snapped coming within breathing distance of the lofty inspector. "Take a good long look and tell me what is so WRONG about it. Huh?!" What was wrong with it, exactly? It was modest if tight fitting and what clothes in this day and age weren't? It was dark blue, and almost velvety in its texture. To speak frankly it looked like the dress that Kate Winslet wore when she was walking the deck of the Titanic with Mr. Andrews. That's the second time I've mentioned that movie, never again, I promise on my soul. To get to the point, I didn't understand what stick was up his ass NOW? "Speak up, Laddie! The ones in the back can't hear ya!"

Told you I'd lash.

Unfortunately anger spurned from anxiety doesn't last too long, and after a few seconds of fretful heaving of my chest, I realized I was all but pressing up against him as if I were bodily saying, "You want a piece of this, bitch?!"

And what was even more disturbing than that was the almost deceptively swift sweep of his eyes as they grazed my length, almost without conscious thought or will they made this movement.

I tried to pull in air but only ended up gulping like a fish out of water. A very comical fish.

"You're........you're looking......" I stammered feverishly, gaze bouncing off every surface, as I tried to back.

I didn't make it that far, because stepping back I caught the them of my habit on my heel. I would've gone down like a ton of bricks if Abberline hadn't placed two heavy hands on my waist, keeping me firmly in place and upright.

"Yes," he nodded, "Yes, I am."

"And what........." Careful girl, are you sure you want to ask this? I licked my lips, a nervous reaction to close proximity, "what is it that you see?" I hesitantly glanced up to find he wasn't but a hair away from my mouth. He all but closed the distance to whisper at my lips, "I see........."

He was going to kiss me now? Sure why not? Well, I don't know..... God, you're so hopeless, spineless, just go with it.

"I see Miss Hernandez looking fairly sick."

It took me a few precious seconds to regain my ability to speak.

"What?"

He pulled me closer to murmur in my ear, "She's been on the stair for a bit now. She didn't buy it at first but I think I've got her convinced, we're madly and in all other words, in love."

My expression must have looked thunder struck, "I........what?!" I hissed furiously.

He looked confused at my tone, "This is what yeh 'ad in mind, by the 'ole dance analogy, am I righ'?"

"Well.....yes but........" I sputtered at a loss and glanced at his hands on my hips in confusion.

"But wha'?" He inquired gently, pulling back enough to look at my reaction more thoroughly, "Two ta tango, correct?"

In every sense of the word he was correct. It does take two to tango but not if one of the partners doesn't have their laces tied. It's just not done. I happened to be that partner and I didn't even have the shoes on! He had caught me off guard and I had been stupid enough to think........and I had fallen head over feet for it. And I couldn't feel more humiliated at the thought.

He glanced at Olivia from the corner of his eyes, as did I and he was wrong. She didn't just look sick. She looked like she could turn people to stone and then chew their cinder-blocked bodies to gravel and spit them out, ready for more.

Turning back he mumbled, "Now put on a smile, pretend I just uttered sweet nothin's in yeh ear, and play nice."

For a moment it seemed he would do the Sparrowy thing and smack my bum and saunter off to flirt with Olivia. He did, not the bum smacking bit but the over the top pleasant flirting, and I wished, not for the first time, that I had the drunken scallywag with me instead of Abberline. At least with Jack I'd know where I'd stand, his dishonesty and honesty easy to predict as the fact that the Governor would wear a wig. But with the Inspector, I was just now finding out how effortlessly he could throw me off balance.

Olivia seemed somewhat pacified by the more than gentlemanly kiss Abberline laid on her hand. As he offered his arm to lead her the rest of the way down the stairs, that alarmingly stunning smile resurfaced with all its previous strength, settling immediate fear in my heart.

Coming down she looked every bit as magnificent as she had on every other occasion when I had seen her, in a satin like frock of almost gold, but too brown to be that. I desperately tried to squash the urge within me to glance down at my feet.

With the mask firmly in place once again, Olivia made herself even more disquieting by pulling me into a tight, almost sisterly embrace, and murmuring in my ear, "Oh Cass, I was so very worried when I saw you last. Thank god your health has returned, thank god for it." She pulled back and if I hadn't been educated in the ways of reading between the lines, I would have thought she looked genuinely relieved.

She looked over me with what could pass as true concern, could......if I didn't know better, which I did, "There is a blush in your cheeks, you must be feeling better." Actually, I was feeling a tad worse. With that she wrapped a companion like arm around me, leading me further into the house, as Abberline followed behind.

"Or," she added slyly, "could that rosy glow be due to the expectation of our other guest's arrival?"

If my cheeks had been red before, they were flaming-Big-Red-it-looks-good-on-you-magma, at the mention of the leading man of my dreams as of last night.

Abberline couldn't see my face as he had fallen back to inspect a tapestry, but Olivia noticed the drastic change of color. Stalling, she pulled to a stop to eye me, her gaze jubilant, "No!" She whispered incredulously, but obviously pleased........obviously, "Really?!"

I couldn't' answer as an image came unbidden into my mind. An image of the wedding I had been planning from the start, since the night I made the wish.

Olivia was almost bouncing, such was her excitement, "Yes?! Oh, Cass is it yes?"

It was there the image, the picture of the wedding. Only instead of the original groom, instead of Abberline..........

It was John.

John Darque.

I allowed the image to linger for a few seconds because no matter how I had started the picture, with what colors and light, without my knowing it, I had wiped the surface clean and started on a whole new canvas. And compared with the other, I found myself liking this new image better than its brother.

'No. You made a promise.' A small resistance voiced.

'It's not binding.' I argued with myself.

'You gave your word.'

'It wasn't written in blood.' I fought the reasoning.

There was silence from the other side then..........

'But it's wrong.'

That was all it took. But it's wrong. That one fleeting second of the possibility for something else flew from my mind, as I shook my head to clear it of the last remaining images of that different path.

Thankfully, Olivia took that gesture as a negative response to her inquiries.

She frowned deeply, "No?"

I shook my head again to be clear, and the word actually fell from my lips, albeit rather hesitantly, "No."

Olivia looked a bit put out by the news and more than just a little skeptical, "Oh?"

I didn't answer, pretending to be quite taken with a portrait on the wall. For although I had settled my mind on the matter, something in me was restless and I couldn't risk the chance that that restlessness would smash all possible hope of my plan.

'I'm starin' ta wonder if yer plan is even yer plan anymore.'

Whatever faint whispers of some other outcome there had been in me, washed away.

I set my head, determined. It was still MY plan. Still my game, no matter what new players joined.

I opened my mouth, my resolve hardened and sure again, "Oh, don't get me wrong, Olivia. John Darque is a very amiable man. Charming, charismatic, witty........eligible......."

"Well, silly girl, what's the problem then?" She asked, clearly at a loss as to why I was so opposed to the idea of having intimate feelings for John Darque.

I smiled. Oh yes, this was still my plan. I smiled and glanced back at Abberline, still absorbed in the intricate pattern of the tapestry.

"I suppose you could say, Olivia.......that's not what I'm looking for."

I had just enough time to catch the steely glint in her eyes and the nervous habit of picking her fingers before her maid entered to proclaim that the tea was prepared and ready.

The little smidge of spreading uncertainty was quieted and I thought that was the end of that, as Abberline rejoined us and I took his arm, pulling him closer than I normally would. It was time to up the stakes.

The game had begun, and I kept my goal in mind. Pose the grandest false wedding the world had ever seen and get Abberline home to Mary Kelly.

I didn't know that wouldn't be enough to win, without losing some of the things I held dear to me. And going on blind luck that I was holding the winning hand, I would lose a lot.

* * *

Tea was refreshing considering not only was the tea itself lip-smackin' good, but that Olivia's looks in our general direction were more than chilling. The reason for such looks was probably due to the over familiarity with which Abberline and I interacted during the duration of the meal. Our knees knocked together under the table, our hands brushed as we reached for spoons to stir the honeyed liquid.

To any outward observer, we looked positively besotted with each other. I didn't know how Abberline was feeling but I was feeling hysterical laughter churn in my stomach. Here I was, a normal teenage girl who was supposedly in love, pretending not to be in love, pretending to be in love. Sorta Victor/Victoria induced hilarity. It was all just too ridiculous for words. But we played up the act well, he was attentive and caring, I laughed at all his jokes (if he ever made any) At this rate we could be married in another month, the way we were going at it!

Olivia delicately placed her china cup down, "Forgive me this, but I hadn't been aware that the both of you were so........well aquainted with another."

"Well, Olivia dear," I answered sweetly, sweetly enough to make me want to puke, I hoped it would have the same effect on her, "you can hardly spend long measures of time in the same house without getting to know another.....a little better."

Olivia's brow rose, archingly, her tone kindly belligerent, "A little better?"

I merely smiled and raised the cup to my lips.

"I see........" she answered.

She certainly could, I thought, as in a moment of pure inspiration and genius, Abberline gently clasped my other hand that rested on the lace covered table. I nearly spat the tea back into the glass. I'd give the game away by laughing, so I held it in.

But then I saw something that sent my heart beating with a sickening thud.

A smile.

A smile on her perfect Angelina Jolie lips, that became fixated on a shape behind us.

A familiar heavy scent invaded my nose.

"I see....." She continued, the tone triumphant, "our errant brat of a guest has finally decided to grace us with his great presence."

The cup froze at my mouth as I placed the fragrance, just as a bruised dark rose was placed before and just to the side of my right eye, blocking the sight of Abberline's face from my line of vision.

"Oh, come now, Olivia, you know I'm never on time. That's why you find me so completely irresistible. Besides, I don't feel right if I don't make some sort of entrance."

I had just gone blank. Blank.....blank......blank, as I lowered my cup with robotic slowness to the china plate it rested on, because of his arm now around my shoulders.

I gripped Abberline's hand with crushing force as Mr. Darque's chillingly destructive voice sounded close to my ear.

"Your professional opinion, Miss Harlington.....how was it?"

I turned my head as I reached my other hand out to catch the stem of the rose from him. I twirled it in my fingers, never letting go of Abberline's hand.

"My, my, Cass dear," Olivia observed with menacing delight, raising a light lemon pastry to her mouth, "I do believe you've turned the exact color of that rose. What do you think, Frederick? John? Lovely color......wouldn't you say?" She took a hungry bite with a secretive smile.

"I certainly would." I heard John's approved murmur as he withdrew his arm from around my shoulder, his hand briefly and possibly not by total accident hovering at the nape of my neck. I felt my skin grow hot to cold, cold to hot in a manner of seconds.

"It suits you." He complimented smoothly, letting his hand drop to the back of my chair, "You should wear that shade more often."

I'm pretty sure I snapped Abberline's hand in two, at that point.

"Oh, I think she will from now on." Olivia commented, sucking at what last little crumbs were still on her fingers.

Her smile then could only be described as wicked.

* * *

Hey yall......Looks like trouble ahead, this story is reaching its midpoint, but here's to twenty more chapters, if all goes well. One can only hope in the words of my favorite captain. So cheers, luvs, and tell elfs bonnylass to get a move on I sent her the seventh chapter like a month ago.


	21. An almost abberline free chapter

Disclaimer: Hehe hehe, I've been a wery wery bad girl. I know. So sue me, things are coming around now at a slower pace. I just want to make sure my writing doesn't go downhill now that I've finally gotten to the places I started this story for. There are a lot of surprises ahead and before anyone asks, I did say that I was trying like hell not to fall in love here…I just never said with whom.

Enjoy. And don't worry, table dancing with Abberline next chapter...so's stick around!

* * *

I didn't have much of an appetite after that, needless to say. Good thing the meal was almost over, after Olivia was done gloating. Bad thing, we were now preparing to go out and ride. Hi ho SILVER, AWAAAAAY! And all that crap. I wasn't much of a horse person. Actually I was, I just didn't like riding them, you know ever since one stepped on my foot and I brought the stables down with my screams.

I was not entirely sure that if I got on one of those beasts, that I would stay on for more than say about…five seconds. I stood trying to stare down the carnal animal before me.

"So…you're the demented-killer version of My Little Ponies? Just don't pull anything, bud…"

The horse snorted making me jump back. Hell, those things were scary up close, ya know within stomping distance I mean.

"Need some assistance?" Inquired a smooth voice from behind me.

Darque was observing me from the stable door, leaning casually against the frame. Why was it that all sexy men when they were trying to seduce someone knew how to do that? Was there some seminar that taught them how to get a girl to give it up in twenty-four hours or less? If there was, there was no hope for the pure and chaste in the world.

"Oh…" I stuttered nervously, "Oh, no. Thank you, Mr. Darque, but no. I shall be fine."

His eyes twinkled with an impish laughing gleam. "I thought I had made it quite clear I wanted you to address me as John from now on."

I turned back to the horse, trying not to feel how intimately that name was pressed on me. "No offense meant, Lord Darque," I threw over my shoulder, "but you've a touch of brass to you, and while that's intriguing in it's own right, it's not entirely proper…and neither is calling you by your first name."

"You surprise me, Ms. Harlington. I wouldn't have classed you as one to think poorly of impropriety, or to find it a bad quality."

"Not a bad quality per se, but perhaps you should tread with care."

"Well, we are in a stable, and one does have to mindful of ones footing. You never know what you may unwittingly step in."

He made me laugh. Go figure. I struggled into the saddle nearly falling off twice in the process.

"Are you absolutely certain you don't want to ride side saddle?" He asked pleasantly as he stroked my horse's neck. Just watching those hands could hypnotize some unsuspecting person.

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"Cause side saddle's for sissies." I muttered, gathering tight the reigns.

"Beg your pardon?"

"I said, 'Last one out has to buy tea and crumpets.'"

And that would've been a great exit line, if I had gotten the horse to move.

* * *

Well, that was the most embarrassing thing that I'd ever done in front of a cool guy short of getting drunk and proclaiming my horny teenaged hormone induced fantasies to his face. But it was bad enough.

My dappled gray and I were the last ones out of the stable house, to find Olivia's prissy white steed, Abberline's solid hazelnut, and Darque's majestic black waiting. Oh it was going to be a long day. I was dying for my Walkman.

* * *

We all settled into a somewhat normal pace. First on the right was Olivia, then Abberline, me, and Mr. Darque bringing up the left flank.

And I was right, it was a long day. And then it got even worse if you can believe it.

Stupid horse threw me. It hurt. Stupid horse, who can ride those things without being maimed. You can? Shuddup.

I landed on my rump and looked up in bewildered awe as John calmed my horse with a few murmured words.

How did he do that?

"Are you hurt?"

John slid from his mount's back and came to kneel beside me, his features stern.

"I am perfectly well." I snapped in irritation at being handled like some delicate glass vase that could shatter at a moments notice…and because it was mortifying enough without his concern to add to it. I made to rise.

"Stay still." He ordered, pulling me down by the sleeve, which he needn't have done as I found my joints had seized up to lock into place at the swift utterance of his command.

He began unlacing my boots.

"What do you think you are doing…!"

"Miss Harlington." He warned me with a look, like it would be in my best interests if I remained silent. He slipped the boot from my foot.

A horrible fluttering began in my middle, "Now, really is this necessary?"

"Yes." He replied succinctly, pinning me with a glare. "I'm not letting you go until I've made very sure there are no broken bones or sprains."

I resigned myself to being coddled like a child, with more than an ounce of annoyance.

He gently began to massage my ankle. How Sense and Sensibility was this? My skin began to tingle ever so slightly.

"I think that is more than enough, Malfoy." I said tersely.

"Excuse me?" He looked up in kind puzzlement, his hands never ceasing their ministrations.

Whoops.

"That will do, Tavington!" I tried again flustered.

"Say again, Miss Harlington?"

Damnit!

"Release my foot at once, James Hook!"

Crud buckets. What is was wrong with me?

Darque chuckled amused and returned the boot to my foot, choosing to ignore the complete absurdity of my words. "Well, I'm pleased to announce that there are no injuries whatsoever on your person." He helped me to my feet.

"Thank you, Devlin."

Darque peered at me queerly.

I winced and tried again.

"Much obliged…John. Mr. Darque. John Darque…Sir."

Abberline line rolled his eyes.

"Miss Harlington," John replied with a grin, "I am now starting to fear it was your head instead of your foot that befell the most damage from the fall."

"Are you positive she didn't sustain it before she fell."

It was uttered softy, but I knew who dared murmur such a thing.

The bitch was going down. I'll take puns like that from hot men who show interest in my ankles but not from Olivia Hernandez…never from her.

She didn't look like she had just insulted me. She looked the very picture of the Virgin Mary, innocent, angelic and guiless as always, and when next she spoke it was all mothering concern. "Perhaps you should take her back to the Manor, John. She does look a bit pale."

That's cause I was grinding my teeth together in an effort to keep from serving her a can of First Class Harlington Whup.

She continued, "The Inspector and I will finish our ride and we'll all meet back in the Music Room."

I looked at Abberline desperately. Say something!

"Inspired idea, Miss Hernandez."

I hate him.

"I do try, Frederick." She answered modestly.

And I loathe her.

"Miss Harlington?" Mr. Darque inquired as if asking my opinion in all this.

Now I'm asking you, why didn't I just drop Abberline cold on his pathetic ass and run off with this strapping guy. We had the horses. Hell, all I had to do was pull Darque into a passionate embrace which would entail (CENSORED FOR YOUR VIEWING) get back in the saddle again, and say "Wedding Chapel or Bust, baby!"

I glanced at Abberline again but no change. He wasn't going to stand up for me. Well fine, the bastard could rot for all I cared. Could be eaten alive by wild dogs and I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Mother-F'in-A could go to hell for all I cared. Ah, who was I kidding? I was just throwing a hissy fit cause I was being sent back.

I nodded despondently to John and with a sympathetic glance he began preparing to load all of the packages holding down his mount to mine.

"Perhaps I'm being dull-witted," I began stepping closer, "but how do you expect me to ride back if your belongings are occupying the space in where I sit?"

John chuckled, "If you think for one moment I am letting you get on that horse again, you are sadly mistaken. I think for your safety and for the horse's comfort it would be in everyone's best interest if you rode with me.

Oh he was a sly one…

I nodded again, this time with a blinding grin of happiness adorning my face. If Abberline was running off with Olivia well, hell I was going my own way with Darque. While he finished up the preparations, and Olivia was trying (and probably succeeding) in engaging Abberline in a discussion, I decided to do something rash.

No one was looking, except for the horse.

I slowly bent down to the ground, and picked up a fairly large skipping stone on the path.

I looked left, and then right.

It was just too easy.

I pulled my arm back and chucked the stone at Olivia's horse's flank. With a whiny of startled surprise and shock the animal reared up, causing the terrified Hernandez brat to cling to its mane in an effort for stay in the saddle. And then…she was off!

It was great.

"What the devil…?" John turned just in time to see Olivia helplessly canter into the thick foliage and vegetation of the surrounding woods. Throwing an irritated and disapproving frown at me, Abberline kicked his own mount into a gallop and went after her.

Ok, good feeling gone now.

I had a horrible suspicion that my righteous punishment had merely turned the tables, and I was now on the losing side.

Mr. Darque turned to regard me candidly. I knew by his expression my earlier assumptions had been wrong. He saw the whole thing. "I truly am flattered, but if you had so desperately wanted us to be alone, you merely had to have said as much and I would've been more than glad to get rid of them for you." He admitted simply.

I stared at him in shock. Was he for real? I mean, jeeze, he was being really cool about all of this.

Chuckling, he hoisted himself into his saddle with incredible ease and leaned down to offer me a friendly hand.

Hey, the losing side wasn't looking too bad.

* * *

So…a recap.

Abberline and Awful Olivia were probably making like rabbits in the forest while I was being carefully and artfully seduced by a man twice my age. I'm no idiot and I know when I'm being seduced (at least I'm pretty sure I do) but considering no one had actually ever tried to put the moves on me before I guess I could be wrong. Either way I was enjoying it while it lasted. It's a nice feeling, knowing you're wanted but more than that…that you're desired. And well damnit, I'm spoiled and I wanted to keep this feeling going for a while more.

"Well Mr. Darque, you've shown me Olivia's dinning hall, sitting room, portrait gallery, conservatory, music room and library." I commented running a hand over the leather bound spine of an Atlas, "I'm starting to form my own conclusions about why you have such a vast knowledge of the Hernandez Estate." I teased him lightly.

"Oh really, Miss Harlington?" He smiled gently removing a book from another shelf.

"Yes, really." I assured him, "And I must warn you the only possible reason for my final analysis is quite scandalous."

Placing the book back he approached with an untroubled gait, "Well then, let's hear it. I'm aquiver with curiosity now."

I didn't waste time beating about the bush, "I believe she was your lover."

"My," his brows rose, "you are a brute when it comes to speaking your mind. I admire that quality."

"In a woman?" I challenged.

"In anyone." He retorted.

I smiled, "Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Darque, you still have yet to answer to these allegations. Is it perhaps because they are well founded?" I goaded him.

"To be frank, Olivia is a darling girl, Miss Harlington, but I find she is not…" He paused, "not quite what I'm looking for in a companion. As a friend there is none better, but as a lover…" He shook his head, his eyes laughing, "I pity the man who makes that venture."

I fingered the pages of an open book on a reading table idly, "As would I…" I agreed personally sweeping up the book in one swift movement and holding it open in front of his face. He leaned in a bit to get a better look. I snapped the book shut with a snap causing him to stifle a reflexive movement, "…but you still have not answered the question."

"No," he smiled, "I have not."

I stomped a foot playfully, "Oh no you don't. You can't just drop such an interesting conversation like that! I demand you tell me this instant." I ordered poking him in the side. He caught my wrist.

"Very well then, only if you agree to tell me this instant about your relationship with the stony faced Inspector."

I pulled by wrist from his grasp. "There is no relationship of any kind, Mr. Darque."

His expression which had shown concern at my withdrawal changed to one of skeptic disbelief at my words. The words I didn't even know the reason behind saying. I should have been propelling along all possible gossips I could get out of this man, instead of wishing he'd touch my skin again.

"Oh of course a relationship in where one shares your home, your food, comfort and company is hardly a relationship at all." The sarcasm in his voice was not lost on me.

I turned away from him, "We have a business proposition. That is all." And wasn't it? I certainly wouldn't be getting the upside in this bargain. It was strictly business. "I'm merely looking after him until all of his affairs are in order."

John moved in front of me, "There is no need to hide behind these false pretenses, Cassandra. I already know."

"-------------------------------"

That's was being speechless sounds like.

No joke. Jus plain ol' "-------------------------" whatever.

This time it was John who turned, "Olivia has already informed me of your feelings for the Inspector…"

Jesus Wacky Christ, I can't handle any more of these near scares. I gathered my wits enough to pose, "And what feelings would those be?"

His shoulders hunched as he let out a bark of laughter as if he were the butt of a horrible joke, "You don't need to play coy, Cassandra. I knew in the beginning that there was some deep emotion for that man in you. I knew and still I…" He raised his hands in a helpless gesture of defeat.

I was entranced, hearing this, hearing these words from him. How could he know these things when I hardly knew them myself? "Knew what?"

He turned then and beheld me as if he could not see why I had not noticed it all this time, "That you were in love with him, of course."

I surprised myself when I found myself recoiling from the statement. I couldn't figure out the reason why I did until I realized it was because I WASN'T in love with Abberline. Sure I cared about him, cared about what happened to him, and yeah he was hot but those three things were an ocean's distance from love.

I was about to ask John what new drug he'd been sniffing when I caught myself, but my reply was no less horrified.

"You must be mad!" I accused eyes wide, "We couldn't be worse for each other. We never agree, we fight constantly…" I cast about for more reasons desperately.

"Oh come now, Cassandra," John sighed as if I were making this far more difficult than it aught to be, "even a married couple of sixty years is capable of that."

I shook my head.

"Admit it." He asked gently of me.

"I will not admit to what isn't true!"

My outburst stilled him and he fell quiet, peering at me curiously. I had silenced myself as well. I did not know what else to say.

When next he ventured to speak, his voice was rough and tired, "Your determination to disprove the obvious makes it all too clear, Cassandra. Why can you not simply say it?"

"Because I don't KNOW it." I argued back. God, I was so confused.

"You may not, but I do." He replied with reluctance, "I must confess I knew of it long ago, but I had hoped there was a slight chance I was mistaken…"

I reached out a hand and then stopped.

"John…I don't know what Olivia has told you, and I'm even less sure of what your own ideas have confided to you but…I do not love Abberline. I assure you, my feelings for him are only those of a caring and devoted sister."

Yeah a Hillbilly sister who wanted to jump her kin. I'm so sick.

At these words John's face split into an earnest smile, which he hid quickly as protocol demanded of him. I smiled demurely in return, and pretended to be very interested in the state of my dress.

"Well then…" He coughed to hide his more than apparent relief, "I say…" He seemed at as much a loss for words as I was.

"What have you got there?" He pointed to the book I hat been holding this entire time as an excuse from our mutual embarrassment.

I turned the book over so that I could make out the title. Shakespeare's Combined Works. I waved the book under his nose so he could see as well.

"Ah, Macbeth…" He commented.

"I much prefer his lighter plays…A Midsummer Night's Dream…"

"Do you know Richard the Third well?" He inquired.

I made a face, "Hardly, but I'm not completely ignorant. I've read it once or twice if memory serves me correctly."

Actually I had seen the movie, and let me tell you…Gandalf as a bloodthirsty tyrant and liar…whoa mama, one of the creepiest things I've ever seen.

"Pity. I know it by heart." John admitted proudly

"Then you're the one who deserves the pity, Lord Daque, not I." I laughed.

"Cassandra Harlington, I am astounded you would feel that way about such a work of art as this. There are some very persuasive passages within these pages." He exclaimed taking the book from my hands and searching for a certain place.

"Indeed, they persuade me to fall asleep."

"Oh, you're too witty." He drawled. He paused as he found the scene he was looking for, "There, read the part of Anne, I shall play Richard." He passed the book back to me. I accepted it with a mocking smile. Poor thing, he was trying to impress me. I started to speak the line at which he had indicated I begin.

"Didst thou not kill this king?"

John answered without the use of the script. He wasn't lying. He knew it by heart, "I grant, yea."

"Dost grant me, hedge hog…" I stopped to giggle. I suppose it was supposed to be an insult. Should've just called him an asshole. "…Then God grant me too Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed. He was gentle, mild, and virtuous." I was starting to remember this part from the movie. Richard had killed her husband or something.

John continued embodying the all time bad guy of literature, "The fitter for the King of Heaven that hath him."

Well he was being professional, so I would be too. I let myself slip into the role of a grief stricken widow, "He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come."

"Let him thank me that holp send him thither for he was fitter for that place then earth."

My next words were venomous, "And thou unfit for any place but hell."

"Yes," his reply was sharp, "one place else if you will hear me name it." He intoned these words with a cool, reserved calm that made my chest tighten.

I turned. "Some dungeon." I threw the line over my shoulder at him, playing the part dutifully. My eyes flicked down to his next line, and widened. Holy god. Was he going to say that? He couldn't. I didn't want him to say that line. I hugged the book to my chest and turned frantic to stop him from uttering it, and came within a few inches of running into him.

"Your bedchamber."

Total mental shut down. Have I ever mentioned I don't do well under large amounts of sexual innuendos and insinuations?

And then suddenly he was step nearer to me. I took a hesitant step back in return. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. Well yes I did but I wasn't an animal, I had to learn to control my raging warpath of girlish hormones. In an attempt to try to cool the direction where this was heading, I peered nervously at my next line as Queen Anne. I wished my hands weren't trembling so much; it made it somewhat hard to read.

"Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest." My back hit the bookcase behind me with a jolt. I lifted my eyes from the written words.

He stood over me a bit, but not intimidating like, but he was intimidating…oh I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Don't listen to me; I'm making absolutely no sense.

So he stood tall, a kind soft tenderness in his every line. His hand reached out and gently coiled firmly about the wrist that held the book to my chest and slowly lowered it to my side, stepping closer to fill the space which it had recently vacated.

It seemed he took a breath to steady himself before delivering his next line through cloudy eyes, "So will it, madam…till I lie with you."

My mouth opened either to utter a soft exclamation of startlement or to pull in a hiss of air, but neither would benefit me. I could do nothing. I wasn't breathing, I couldn't risk so much as a breath to give me away.

His thumb moved comfortingly over the pulse point on my wrist in a circular like motion as he looked on me. Then his lips were at my ear and in a delicate warm breath he whispered, "It's your line, Cass."

I felt my knees start to buckle as I struggled to remain standing. The constant caress of his thumb at my wrist had not ceased its motion and I felt my arm shudder to sleep. I held the book loosely in my hand. Had he spoken? I couldn't seem to form my senses input into full manageable thoughts. Through the haze one thought surfaced and I spoke it aloud.

"But he was a villain…" I murmured. I was of course referring to Richard the Third.

He withdrew enough to give a lingering glance over my face, "Do you think me a villain, Cassandra?" And then he paused.

At first I didn't understand why he'd stopped but then I realized what he was asking. My head bent in a nod of assent then tilted up to him, I closed my eyes and waited.

As his warm breath spread across my face, I thought with giddy happiness that this was it. I was going to be kissed for the first time.

'You already have been.'

Annoying inner voice of reason was back.

'Piss off.' I retaliated, 'I'm busy.'

'Aberline kissed you.'

'He thought I was her. It didn't matter.'

'Didn't it?"

'Go away.'

I tried to focus on the fact that John's lips were just barely touching me now. Soon it would be like my dream. But my dream (nightmare I had argued last night)? The blood….

'Who helped you wake from it?' The voice asked.

Abberline broken, cheeks wet with salty tears, murmuring in a scratched and aching voice, "I tried Mary…I tried…"

Abberline rocking me, shielding me from the images in my dream. Comforting me, feather light touches to the side of my face…

'Would you betray his kindness now? Now that you're halfway there?'

Mother effing eff…

My eyes flittered open and the book fell from my hands, hitting the floor with a bang.

John jerked back with a start as if he had betrayed something in himself by being so forward. He looked at the book on the floor in confusion, as if he didn't understand how it had come to be there. My gaze was drawn to the book as well. Had I dropped it on accident or had it been intentional?

John drew in a breath to speak but then forced back whatever he'd been about to say.

"John…I…" My own voice surprised me.

He turned to face me.

"I don't think that I can do this. I just can't. I'm sorry, I truly am but…"

He raised a hand gracefully to silence me. It looked as if he were trying to compose himself from emotions I could not gauge.

"Forgive me." He finally said softly, "That was uncalled for. I was…I was an idiot."

"John, I just…I can't. It's not that I don't…"

"I understand." He reassured me, and it sounded as if he did. Maybe he understood better than I did.

His mouth lifted in a regretful smirk, "If you'll allow me…?" He asked cupping my face in his hands. He laid a chaste kiss on my forehead and pulled back, "Until you can."

I felt so grateful to him for being so nice to me, when I had practically led him on, like a dog on a leash. So grateful that he didn't hate me, wasn't angry with me… that I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. He hesitated responding for a moment but then his arms enfolded me in a warm return as he rested his chin on my head.

"We wondered what was taking you two so long."

John and I broke apart immediately at Olivia's polished and intoxicatingly sweet voice.

She stood in the doorway, a smug expression on her lips that seemed to say, "I knew it. You can't fool me." Abberline stood beside her, looking murderous.


	22. So?

Disclaimer: Hello my little darlings. I'm quite sure many of you would like to kill me for the lull in the proceedings between my last chapter and this. You have every right to feel so. Last year was perhaps one of the worst in my life, changes…they screw everything up. I preoccupied myself with things that were already written, so that I didn't have to think too much more than I already was at that point. But now I'm back and strangely inspired by my experiences. I only hope I don't disappoint you.

* * *

We just stood there like stone works of art. John looked for a moment as if he would have liked to do certain things to Olivia, that also found themselves running through my head. And those something's included torture, sharp pointy objects, and listening to MmmBop a thousand times in a row. But as always John was perfection when it came to dodging uncomfortable tensions.

He raised a charming brow at their unwanted intrusion, "Indeed. We were pondering the same thing of you. Enjoy the ride, Olivia?"

I shot him a look. Ride as in…?

I take it back. Don't wanna know.

She grinned prettily in reply, "Yes…immensely."

I pursed my lips dryly. I'll bet you did, hobag.

"Well," John brought his hands together in a hearty clap, "shall we adjourn to the music room, then? You ladies may awe us with your talents, and we gentlemen will have the pleasure of such an indulgence." He smirked pointedly at Abberline's tense form, "Isn't that right, Inspector?"

Okay, Abberline still giving me the creepy gaze. Avert eyes! Avert eyes!

"Lovely idea, John." Olivia concurred pleasantly, "Escort me to the room?" She offered a slim, graceful arm to him. "I've been meaning to have a word with you all afternoon."

Now that's just not right. Bitch was trying to take my man…I mean my man friend…I mean my…whatever he was. What had just taken place in the room kinda confused me about what exactly he was to me. All I knew was that I didn't want John escorting her anywhere. Least of all someplace where they could be alone.

And then he surprised me by turning in my direction, "With your permission, of course."

I beamed. I loved a man with manners. I nodded my assent.

He brought my hand to his mouth, lips skimming over my skin like a light breeze. Pulling back he pressed my fingers firmly. It was some kind of promise. There was going to be no debauchery or hanky panky of any sort, is what that gesture promised. I was greatly relieved. I had enough trouble with keeping Abberline in thrall to me (hah, yeah right) then to worry about Olivia moving in on her old flame.

"Miss Hernandez?" John murmured approaching her, "If you will?"

Turning over her dainty shoulder with uncanny Exorcist like ability, after taking his arm, she intoned kindly, "Don't fall behind you two."

Aka. Keep the Inspector occupied for too long…well let's just say I will return the favor…I do have a mildly attractive and darkly handsome escort to dally the time with should you choose to do so.

She didn't have to worry really. The last thing I wanted was to occupy Abberline for any amount of time, let alone long enough for Olivia to send out the search party…not to mention that I was eagerly hoping to miss out on the reprimand of the century. The storm was building. Abberline was gonna let me have it, I could tell. I braced myself for the blow.

He opened his mouth, "So…?"

* * *

"So…?" Olivia prompted, as they strolled down the hall.

At her side, John sighed good naturedly, "So what?"

At this reply Olivia's smile grew in a knowing grin, "I knew it…"

"You knew what, Olivia? Please try to finish your annoyingly cryptic sentences."

"You fancy her." She accused him.

His own smile was nothing short of amusement, "Your misplaced insinuation is somewhat insulting."

Olivia chuckled, the sound reverberating off the walls with a beautiful chime, "Oh, you horrible fiend," She admonished him in all playful seriousness; "you won't even admit to it, will you?"

"Honestly, Olivia," John responded somewhat irate to the claim, "you seem to think simply because I favor a woman and make wild flirtations upon her person, that there is any real feeling or commitment behind such advances. They are merely the tools one uses to ensnare evasive game." He reminded her.

Placing a stalling hand on his arm she brought him to a stop. "Our chase was quite an event, was it not?" Her eyes sparkled with the memories of a time already come to an end.

A feral smile illuminated his features, "So it was. If I recall correctly, and I know I do, you lasted a week."

"A week and a half." Miss Hernandez corrected, pouting at her companion's thought of her lack of resistance. "But we will let it pass."

"Yes. You were the most difficult and the hardest to claim."

"And how long have you pestered the Harlington heir?" She posed.

Shooting her a stony glance, he dropped her arm from his, "A month." He intoned finally, resuming his previous stride.

"A month?" She taunted hurrying to catch up to him, "Surely you could have had her already if you wished it."

Lord Darque's pace quickened, "I could have anything if I wished it."

"No doubt." She agreed readily, "But…" she snuck the phrase in slyly, "…why have you waited this long?"

"A well drawn out seduction always yields more rewards than any other." He defended.

"Perhaps. But perhaps there is another reason," Olivia pressed, "one you are unwilling to admit."

"There is no other reason in the battle for a woman's virtue."

"There is one…"

"What exactly are you implying, Olivia?"

Her walk paused as she regarded his back, while he continued on. He didn't see her smile, nor the gleam in her eyes that revealed he was a man already lost. Her next words hit his retreating form like an arrow. To the left and a little ways down.

"It really isn't all that uncommon, you know…" She purred, rejoining him, "It does happen, although infrequently…Love…"

Bull's-eye. John Edmund Darque was sufficiently stilled, at once both filled with sense of horror and certainty.

"Love?" A well guarded smile and exuberant laugh followed this declaration, as Olivia made level with his side once again. She smiled secretly and with a nod she showed her agreement to the term she had used on him.

John spared the briefest pause before he chuckled for her benefit, "Get your cunning, conniving head out of such silly fairy tale sentiments! If I didn't know any better I'd say the Inspector had scrambled your brain."

This soured the young lady's mood almost instantly, "Hardly. He has yet to lay a hand on it…or anything else for that matter."

Glad of the reprieve he tutted regretfully at her misfortune, happy it was not his, "Oh dear, why ever not?"

"He is turning out to be more resilient to my advances than I'd like him to be."

"To your delicate minstrations? Good Lord, that's a first!"

"More than that," she continued bitterly, "his resistance is starting to wear on my generous patience. I'm beginning to come to the end of my rapidly fraying rope, as it were."

"You?" Lord Darque turned a surprised, mocking glance her way.

"Don't fret." She assured him, her confidence raised anew, "I take my failure in stride, if only to make everything I do the better for it. It is only a matter of time," at this she shot him an accusatory look, "and things would go more swiftly if you just kept the little tart out of my way…and away from my horse."

"And how do you suppose I do that?" He laughed in return, "She seems quite determined to dislike you."

Olivia's gaze became deadly and her voice froze the air around her, "Anyway possible. You are a well known and respectable rake. Find a way." She demanded, "Lock her in a room and ravage her…or propose if you must, but don't delay!"

He took her arm and fitted it perfectly in his to pacify her temper, "Such talk of forbidden trysts and marriages, Miss Hernandez, one would think you were serious."

Hand in hand, smiling similar Siamese cat grins the two made their way to the music room to await the arrival of those they had been speaking of.

* * *

"So…?" Abberline murmured.

"No, I crotchet."

His brows furrowed darkly in anger.

I winced. What did I say that for? Why was I giving him lip?

"Sorry." I grumbled eyes down cast.

"For what?" Abberline asked in frank meanness, "Your penchant for sarcasm in the most inopportune moments," he crossed the room in a matter of a few strides, "or perhaps for your complete disregard for our current situation? Tell me, Sarah…which of these sterling qualities should you feel the need to apologize for now?"

"Why are you acting like this?" I posed, a frown growing. I had said I was sorry; there was no reason to bite my head off.

Abberline's face twitched drastically and he turned swiftly away toward one of the many windows. When he turned back his demeanor shouted at a control and an underlying steadying power he had just renewed.

"Try to understand, Sarah…I realize this may be difficult, but try to understand. You cannot play around with this class. They will destroy you, if not in body than in the mind. They are seasoned players to this championship and they will not abide loss of any kind. So you had better make damn well sure you don't have something of value to bargain with before your test their powers of persuasion. Do not put me or our cause on the sacrificial table for the wolves to feed on. Not after all that we have already accomplished. We cannot afford it, Sarah."

"I wasn't aware my own feelings were of something of great value to place a gamble with…" I replied testily, "So much the way you regard them…" I muttered under my breath.

"Your feelings, however false or without guile they are, determine the outcome of this plan. Your plan, Sarah. Yours…and it is failing, and will continue to do so as long as you continue to believe your own lies and clot yourself with them."

"You make it sound as if you have done nothing against your own views." I shot back, "How am I expected to carry this whole thing on my back while you're off doing god knows what with Olivia? If you're gonna be out all hours of the day sporting or what not, I think it isn't too much to ask that I be allowed to do the same!"

"Oh with Darque, I suppose?" He snapped.

"With anyone! And I'm going to! Because we're not married yet, Abberline!"

Oh shit, I thought as I whirled away, a hand to my mouth. I hadn't meant to say that last part out loud. Cripes, Sarah, you're a frickin' genius! Give him another reason for him to hate you, why don't ya?

"What was that?" He asked dangerously, "Did you say something, Sarah?"

I bit my lip bruisingly and shook my head frantically, "Nothing. Nothing…" I stopped my protestations. What was I doing? Fuck this, just gonna tell it to him straight.

"Actually…yeah!" I rounded on him, "Yeah, I did say something. And you know what? I'm going to say it again for your listening pleasure! I said we're not married yet…meaning you better watch it…meaning you better be nice to me…or…or…" I couldn't think of anything threatening enough at the moment, "Well, you'd just better! Because let me tell you, if you think you can get away with woodsy fornicating and I can't even slip by on a Shakespeare reading, you've got another thing coming! We're not married yet…and we never will be if you don't stop acting like a supreme jerk! You know what? Forget it. I'm not even going to waste my time." I walked toward him, preparing to brush past, "I don't know how Mary Kelly put up with you." I hissed.

I gasped before I could comprehend why I had done so. Abberline had a hold of my wrist that was most uncomfortable. I raised my eyes to his.

"Do not mistake the intent of our rouse, Sarah." He warned.

I hardened my eyes, "I suggest you let of me right now, Inspector."

He continued now a note of desperation in his voice, "Don't forget our purpose in this venture. Please, Sarah. Mary's life depends on it. We are supposed to be in love, for god's sake!"

"Than start acting like it!" I snapped furiously. He dropped my wrist as I fumed, I think in surprise at the venom in my voice, "Because if you don't, I swear I'll let Darque pick one of Shakespeare's more passionate scenes to play out the next time around, mark my words, I will."

I stormed over to the doors to make the rendezvous with the others, who were no doubt, waiting for us. "Now let's get this over with. And you better stay ten feet behind me on the way. I may be helping you for Mary Kelly's sake and mine, but that doesn't mean I want you anywhere near me right now." I saw his look, "Oh, don't worry I'll pretend to be in love with you once we reach the others, but til then I'm perfectly free to hate you….Jackass…" I snapped striding out.


End file.
